Storm Front
by Xed Alpha
Summary: Some things are best left undisturbed. When Jack Frost inadvertently stumbles into a world without guardians, and with no support to back him up against something he accidentally unleashed, he's got to put his faith in a mortal who is both so much like himself and yet so different in almost every way possible.
1. Chapter 1: Winter Break

[A/N] I actually argued briefly with myself against even uploading this one. I really only wrote it as a means to get past some writer's block I encountered doing one of my other stories. Always helps to just get something, anything written down to counter that. This may just be a one off (especially since I am aware this particular crossover has been done to death, but I thought I'd try putting my own spin on it regardless) I haven't decided yet how far this will go, it might just be fun. Let's just see how this brief soiree turns out first.

**Storm Front**

**Chapter 1: Winter Break**

Jack didn't think he had himself to blame, really he didn't. Nobody had prepared him for any real level of exposure. But then when you endure a three hundred year spell of almost perfect, unbroken anonymity and invisibility you're bound to develop a certain level of detachment from the world around you.

How was he supposed to know word of him would spread like it had after the Pitch incident?

Turns out he underestimated just how quickly word can spread in the modern world. The internet helps with that.

And that's what had led to his current predicament. How was Jack also supposed to know that if someone who believed in the his existence videoed him then he would not only show up on said video, but that he'd also be visible to anyone else who saw it, believer or otherwise. But then Jack always did consider the whole 'belief' system to be a rather sucky thing when he was involved. It was either no belief, too much belief, or psychotic personification of fear uses belief to take over planet.

"Not my fault…" he grumbled for the umpteenth time, "Youtube, smartphones…when did those even happen?"

Jack stood with his back braced against the door to North's personal workshop as it shuddered inwards, "You be coming out of there this instant, Frost!" came the heavily accented roar from outside, "You are five seconds from being escalated above naughty list!"

Jack reasserted his footing, bracing his shoulders back again as he frowned, "What's beyond the naughty list?" he called back over one shoulder.

"You do not want to be knowing!"

Jack rolled his eyes and then briefly surveyed the room. The video of him skating vertically down the length of the Freedom Tower had gone quickly viral and was now sporting an almost kingly eighty-six million views. That apparently went beyond mere belief and instead shot straight into the territory of total exposure.

And apparently that was a bad thing.

Needless to say, when he'd been summoned to the Pole, Jack Frost had been perfectly oblivious to the chaos that he'd caused in the monitoring systems, and had in fact come within inches of being skewered by one of North's cutlasses upon first walking in the door. And so he'd done the next smartest thing: he'd hidden in the most heavily fortified room there was until the old man cooled off.

Jack really had not planned beyond that. Which was a pity considering Saint Nick appeared to be in no great hurry to calm himself.

But then plans never really were Jack's department. He was more a spur of the moment sort of guardian, which is probably what had gotten him into this mess in the first place.

"You come out and take punishment like man!" came the next shout, the next shove causing a shower of splinters and plaster to flutter down over Jacks shoulders.

"Old man really knows how to throw his weight around…" muttered Jack as he reached over and nimbly used one bare foot to flip up a nearby oversized candy cane into his hand.

After sliding it between the door handles in the hopes that the reinforcement might just buy him a few extra seconds, Jack did a quick assessment of the room. He'd assumed there would be some kind of a way out, but no, there was nothing but ice sculptures and reinforced walls.

Jack's eyes were drawn to the large snow globe that he'd initially been betting on as his best chance for a way out. Unfortunately, after the incident involving a little girl gaining brief access to it while North's back was turned, the old man had taken it upon himself to add a layer of security to the artefact. This came in the form of a gilded spherical cage that retracted only at North's touch.

Jack looked hastily about as the door bulged again, the cane cracking in the middle. He dashed about the room, pulling drawers open, looking for something, anything to help him out of his predicament. All he could find however was a seemingly endless supply of chisels and carpentry tools. He had almost given up hope entirely when he crossed over to the last drawer in the room, the one in the rusting filing cabinet shoved almost haphazardly into one shady corner. It was seemingly in disuse and now served apparently no other purpose than to prop up a shelf that the guardian hadn't gotten around to repairing yet. Something about it drew Jack closer.

Jack tugged the drawer, only to find it locked shut. The door fragmenting behind him spurred him on to try again though. The lock was flimsy, and when he pulled hard enough a tiny gap opened up at the top. He kicked his staff up into one hand and shoved it into the space.

Gritting his teeth and praying his staff didn't get broken again, Jack levered the thin metal until it popped open. The drawer flew open, slamming right into Jack's ankle in the process.

Jack squeaked out a somewhat less-than manly curse of pain, hopping on one foot as the limb throbbed. The ache faded into the background however as Jack saw what was before him.

On its side, rocking gently back and forth within the drawer, was a snow globe.

A wide grin spread over Jack's pale features as he gingerly picked up his salvation, "When my instinct's right, it's right…" he said gleefully, wiping off the dust.

The globe was much smaller than its counterpart. The glass was smudged also, and a slight crack ran from the top to the base. The scene within was obscured slightly by a hazy swirl of black sand, to the point that it was hard to even make out if there was anything in there at all, but it had power, that much Jack could tell, and that was all that mattered right now.

Jack held the globe out in one outstretched hand, "Alright then, I'm thinking just somewhere nice, quiet, and preferably on the chilly side, if it's not too much bother."

Jack rebounded it off the ground and the globe pulsed in response, the crack itself glowing blindingly. A crackling swirl began to appear in the air before retreating back and vanishing again. The globe leaped back into the guardian's hand and Jack scowled, glancing warily back as the entire door seemed to crack up, "Come on, stat! Stupid portal magic…"

He shook the globe insistently and tossed it once more, with much more force this time. The swirl reappeared, growing almost reluctantly larger this time until a cloudy black distortion hung in the air, crackling almost ominously with purple bolts of mystical light. The globe bounced back into Jack's hand.

Something was…_off_ about it, this much even Jack could tell. In the end he just shrugged, "Portal's a portal…" and so he twirled his staff about once in preparation to hop right in.

It was in that instant that the double doors behind Jack literally shattered into a cloud of splintering wood, "JACK!" roared the elder guardian.

Jack had paused, one foot extended before the portal. North's brow furrowed when he sighted it, his gaze going to the sealed up snow globe before finally focusing in on the one in Jack's hand.

To Jack's surprise, the globe chose that second to shatter in his grip. Thankfully for Jack though the portal remained open for now. He shrugged the loss off with indifference and so paid no heed to the tiny swirl of black that slipped free from the debris and then slithered through the air into the portal. The vortex pulsed darkly, as if revelling in some secret, dark triumph.

What did give the younger guardian pause however was the look on North's face: Rage had become concern, worry replacing the fury, "Where did you get that?" he asked with rather uncharacteristic quiet, his eyes widening.

Jack stabbed a thumb over one shoulder, "In the drawer. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm just going to get out of your way for a while until this whole thing blows over."

"Wait!" shouted North as Jack stepped towards the portal, "You cannot use that!"

Jack smirked, "You just watch me."

"You don't understand! What you just used was prototype; beta version at best! Very buggy!"

"Seems to be working well enough." And another step forwards was taken.

"No, you do not understand! Once you go through, you won't be able to come back again!"

Jack nodded slowly, "Yeah…that's the general idea." He shot the older guardian a cheeky wink, "later, old man!" and before North could say another word, Jack plunged through the portal.

North watched helplessly as the vortex folded in upon itself and vanished.

Both it and Jack were gone, and all that remained now was a gaunt quiet. The older guardian just stood there for a long moment, his hand still extended, his face aghast.

One of his helpers appeared at his side and made a worried, querying noise. North's brow clenched quickly into a scowl and he turned back about, "I need to speak to Man in Moon…"

The furry creature made a surprised grunt.

"He will speak!" snapped North, his expression becoming distant, "He must…else we may never see Jack Frost again."

The Spirit of Winter and Guardian of Fun had just been lost, and the trouble that meant for the world as a whole North didn't want to think about. And then there was the peril Jack himself might now be in. The globe Jack had used was cast aside as whilst it did indeed send people to the kind of place they requested, it's wasn't always entirely what they expect.

Sometimes they ended up still being on Earth but in another world. Sometimes you ended up in another time.

Sometimes it was both.

The Yeti grumbled something.

"I know I should clean out workshop more often, but never is time!"

The yeti chose not to comment on the fact that, strictly speaking, North only worked one night of the year while they prepared the toys the rest of the time.

But as bad as the trouble the guardians may or may not soon be in, Jack Frost really wasn't faring much better…

-α-

Jack expected some minor turbulence upon coming through the portal. He'd been expecting to have to skid to a halt or brace himself a little.

What he hadn't been expecting however was to be fired out of the other end at mach ten like a bazooka round over a large body of water.

This normally wouldn't have been much of a problem, but unfortunately for Jack his staff had emerged an instant before he did, meaning they were currently separated. That meant, without a conduit to help effectively channel his powers, good old fashioned Newtonian Physics were boss right now.

Jack hated it when that happened.

His throat was dry too, and it took Jack a moment to realise this was primarily due to the fact he was screaming at the top of his lungs in panic.

Jack skimmed the surface of the water several times like a skipping stone, the liquid freezing solid in his wake with each bounce before he finally lost momentum and plunged into the icy depths near the dock.

Jack broke the surface a moment later with a reflexive gasp for breath once he'd spat out a large mouthful of salty water. A glum expression immediately crossed his features.

"And the day just keeps getting better and better…" he grumbled, swimming up to the nearby wooden structure before scrambling rather ungracefully up onto the dock. The fact that the water froze solid under his feet assisted with this at the very least.

Jack flicked the water from his hands and looked at himself up and down. Normally he'd just fly it off until he was dry, but that wasn't currently an option right now.

"Good thing nobody can see-"

"Odin's beard…are you okay, son?" cut in a voice, and Jack looked up to sight a rather elderly man in heavy furs carrying barrel of fish. He was currently looking over at the guardian in undisguised shock.

Jack resisted the strong urge to fling his arms up in exasperation, settling instead for ringing out a few soaked white locks, "Of course someone can see me. That's how it works, isn't it? When I want to be seen, I'm invisible. When I don't want to be seen, only _then_ does the whole world get an eyeful of Jack."

The man was still looking at him, taking in the fact that not only was he without any decent layers of clothing, he wasn't even wearing boots. He nodded at the ship docked nearby, "You fall out of your cabin or something, boy?"

"Sure," said Jack glumly with a shrug, "Why not." He looked about, "You seen a staff around here by any chance?"

"Staff?"

"Staff; it's sort of a stick, about yay high," he said, holding his hand up and then curling his finger, "Sort of curvy motif at the top. Might have come swinging by at quite a speed."

"I saw something come flying by. Whatever it was, it struck the rooftop over yonder and then spun off into town."

Jacks shoulders sagged, "Of course it did…" and so he began trudging off up the dock toward said town.

"You should dry off and wrap up, son," called the man after him, "You'll catch your death out here!"

"Been there, done that…" sighed Jack, and he paused only to glance at the collection of sailing ships docked. 'Must be having some kind of renaissance fair.' He contemplated, 'and here I am, missing all the fun.'

It was about halfway into town that Jack began to realise that either this was the most accurate period reproduction of a small town from centuries ago that he'd ever seen (though in all fairness he hadn't seen many) or something was severely off around here. And he'd already ignored one thing off today, and that hadn't ended well at all.

"Comin' through!" came a shout, and Jack dodged as a small form weaved about him and then dashed happily off up the street.

Several things suddenly became apparent to Jack Frost in that instant: 1) The figure swiftly retreating into the distance was not human. He appeared to be a snowman…a living, _talking_ one with what appeared to be a self-perpetuating snow flurry above his head; 2) He wasn't the only one who had seen him, and finally 3) Out of all those present, Jack was the only one who had batted so much as an eyelash at the spectacle. In fact, if anything, it was Jack himself who was drawing all the attention. It was like they'd never seen a barefooted boy with white hair wearing a frost-crusted hoodie in their lives.

'Yup…' thought Jack, 'Something is seriously wrong here.'

The town appeared to be a small one, and judging by the thinness of the air and the temperature, Jack guessed they were somewhere at slightly higher altitudes. He therefore didn't consider it too surprising his legend might have spread, especially if winter or the cold in general were big parts of their lives.

"Talking snowman, huh?" mused Jack, "That is a new one. I just hope North doesn't see him. I'll probably get the blame for that too…" And so he carried on into town, ignoring the queer stares that he picked up as he went.

Frost eventually came to an open space, and what he saw there briefly took his breath away, "Whoa-ho-ho," he exclaimed, taking in what he could only describe as a palace that someone had given ice highlights, "Now that is nice…" he whispered, musing that if he had his own palace, he'd definitely want it to look like that.

Jack paused then to ponder, rubbing at some imaginary stubble as he did so, 'So North has his castle, the rabbit has his warren and the fairy has her place too…how come I don't have my own place?' and with that thought firmly in mind, Jack Frost immediately resolved to build himself an icy fortress of awesomeness at the next available opportunity.

"Not bad, eh?" came a voice off to the side.

Jack cocked his head, "meh, I could probably do better," he lied.

"Sure you could," said the voice with polite skepticism, "You should see the one up in the mountains though; all ice that one. It's quite a sight. Always seems a shame to just leave it empty." The voice then paused hesitantly, "but…aren't you a bit…cold out here dressed like that? I'm pretty sure your clothes are actually frozen solid too."

Jack turned his attention to the newcomer. The guardian really wasn't used to random strangers being able to address him so freely.

The person talking to him was a man on a very traditional-looking sleigh that Jack was sure North would've approved of. The stranger was of a much heavier build than Jack, most likely from a life of heavy physical activity, and appeared to be approximately around the same physical age as the guardian was (as opposed to his chronological one). He also had large, curious brown eyes that were now scrutinising jack closely.

"It's a family thing," said Jack dismissively, "Endurance test, right of passage, so on and so forth."

The man frowned, "Nope…_pretty_ sure you will actually die being out here like that."

"And what are you, an expert on the cold?" asked Jack, who was still focusing ahead.

"Well I am Arendelle's official Ice Master," said the man with a slight note of smugness, "It's kind of my field."

Jack's brow twitched and he slowly turned to now fully regard the man back, taking in his sled full of perfectly cut ice blocks. The man gave out an involuntary shudder when those deep icy eyes met his, and he could've sworn that even through his thick layers of clothing, he could feel an icy wind blowing. Jack's lip twitched in amusement, "The Ice Master…?"

"Y-yup," he stammered despite himself, "Kristoff's the name, and ice is very much my game."

Jack narrowed his eyes, his lip tugging tighter almost into a smirk. He appeared to consider making some kind of a derogatory boast but then dismissed the idea and just looked ahead once more.

Kristoff looked at the young man again. There was something more than a little off about him. There was the outlandish clothes, the lack of footwear, not to mention the unhealthy pale skin and completely white hair. Then there was his aura, for lack of a better expression. He just seemed to exude a chill into the air around him, "Listen, uhm…"

"Jack," the stranger offered, still regarding the palace however.

"Jack, are you…sure you don't need some help. If you've got no place to stay and can't even afford boots, you'll find that myself and the people around town will be more than happy to-"

Jack smiled, cutting Kristoff off, "Thanks for the offer. I do appreciate it, but I really am fine. You may be able to help me with something else though."

Kristoff shrugged, "shoot."

"Have you seen anything come flying through here? Wooden staff, sort of curved at one end." He could sense his staff was close, but it was obviously just a little too far to get a proper bearing on it.

"Is that what that thing was?"

Jack's gaze flicked to him, and the cold intensity (which was unintentional on Jack's part) had Kristoff almost flinching back, "Where did you see it?"

Kristoff nodded ahead at the square before the palace, which Jack only noticed now appeared to have been transformed into a makeshift ice rink. He approved.

Kristoff pointed in particular to one of a pair of fountains that seemed to have been frozen mid-spray in the middle of the space. They both would have indeed been impressive sculptures had one not been snapped in two, "It hit the fountain there, broke it, and then spun off and smashed clean through one of the palace windows."

Jack winced, 'Oops…'

"Anna, my…umm…_friend_, was here a moment ago. She dashed off to see what it was." He then frowned, "Wait, did you throw it? Because if you did, the Queen's probably going to be more than a little mad at you."

Jack's eyes widened, "The Queen?" he echoed with what sounded to Kristoff like momentary surprise.

"Sure," said Kristoff, nodding at the building, "That is the palace after all. And that over there is the Queen's broken fountain, and that over there is Queen's broken window."

Jack realised that Kristoff was now looking at him suspiciously, "Hey, don't look at me like I'm the guilty party." Said Jack, "I'm perfectly innocent here…in a direct sense at least." Jack turned to fully look at the man, "Listen, Christopher…"

"_Kristoff_," he corrected with a clear note of irritation.

"Whatever. Look, on a completely and utterly unrelated note. If one were, for _some reason,_ to want to get into the palace. How might they go about it?"

Kristoff cocked a single eyebrow up, "Completely unrelated note?"

Jack inclined his head, "That's what I said."

Kristoff rolled his eyes, "Then you should probably just knock and request an audience with either Princess Anna or the Queen. They're really not as reclusive as they used to be."

"Your _friend_ is the princess?" asked Jack.

Kristoff seemed to flush slightly, "D-didn't I mention that?"

"You didn't," responded Jack flatly, who then began to walk off toward the palace.

"Where are you going?" asked Kristoff, still more than a little worried about the stranger dying of hypothermia dressed as he was, and was a little wary that his suspicious attitude may be a symptom of that.

"To get a closer look," said Jack, walking out over the smooth ice, which Kristoff noted didn't seem to bother him either, despite his being barefoot, nor did he slip or stagger in the slightest.

Kristoff sighed and hopped down to unbuckle Sven, "Come on, something tells me we'd best keep an eye on him for now."

Sven gave an agreeing grunt and followed on after his human partner once the man had taken a second to secure his sled.

Kristoff found Jack looking thoughtfully up at one of the huge vaulted windows near the ballroom. There was a large jagged hole in the glass where something had smashed clean through it. Jack surveyed the brickwork leading up to it. Nodding with satisfaction, he stepped forwards and worked his toes into a gap between two bricks and began padding around for a handhold.

"What are you doing?" hissed Kristoff, looking carefully about for any sign of the palace staff.

Jack groaned and turned about, "I'm just going to take a look." And then he sighted Sven. He looked between the reindeer and the window, gauging the height. Jack snapped his fingers and nodded at the ground before him, "Front and centre, Rudolf."

Kristoff scowled, "His name is Sven."

"_Sven_. Will you please just let me borrow him for a second?"

Kristoff hesitated, and he and Sven looked at each other. After a second, he nodded with both reluctance and wariness.

The reindeer stepped forwards. Jack then hooked his toes between some of the straps and flipped himself up onto Sven's back, bracing his feet carefully on the leather harnesses to make sure he didn't make full accidental contact with the animal's skin. Without his staff to fully channel his powers Jack knew he had to be careful.

"Forwards…easy…" said Jack, balancing as Sven edged up to the window. Jack stood up on his tiptoes and peered inside.

He sighted his staff almost immediately. It was high up off the ground, the base having stabbed through a painting and then impaled itself right into the wall behind it. Jack felt his mouth pull into a smile. He caught movement in the corner of his eye however and Jack ducked down slightly.

Only then did Jack realise there was already someone in the ballroom, and that person was looking up at Jack's staff with an open scowl, her arms folded tightly in front of her.

Jack stared openly at the figure with something akin to wonder, "Who's the blonde lady?" he whispered, looking back down at Kristoff.

Kristoff jumped up to get a flashing glance of inside the ballroom, "Oh, that's Queen Elsa."

Jack gaped at him, "_That's_ the Queen?"

"Well yeah, what were you expecting?"

Jack shrugged, "I don't know…old, graying and crotchety?"

Kristoff smiled, "I don't think that could be any further from accurately describing Elsa."

Jack nodded and looked back inside, "_Yeah…_" he breathed and looked at her again. She was what he could only describe as hauntingly beautiful. Her skin was pale like his, yet it held a subtle richness and warmth that his never could. Her hair too was pale, albeit as an almost perfect platinum blonde, like the sun shining down on freshly fallen snow. She was, in essence, the perfect cold beauty, and Jack had never seen anything quite like her before.

And he had been around a while.

His brow twitched though when he realized the Queen was in fact now standing at the top of a small spiral staircase that seemed to be made entirely of ice. Jack could've sworn it hadn't been there before.

Elsa was hopping up on one foot, trying almost comically to reach up and grab the curved head of Jack's staff, but obviously the Queen had overestimated her own height, as her fingertips only brushed the wooden surface. Jack considered this a good thing, since he knew that if she touched it in full there was always the danger of some of the power inside being released inadvertently.

Then Jack finally saw why the Queen seemed particularly irritated: The painting his staff had impaled was in fact a rather fetching portrait of Elsa herself. Well, the portrait _would_ have been fetching had the image of the queen not been stabbed through the head by a wooden stick.

Else stopped and frowned, folding her arms and tapping a single finger off her upper arm in thought. She then looked down at her feet and Jack missed the heels of her shoes extending upwards by a couple of inches. He was therefore more than a little surprised when the next time Elsa reached up, she effortlessly managed to take hold of the staff in both slender hands.

Elsa recoiled as if stunned by the contact and Jack tensed with concern. She looked down at her own hands with something close to either fear or wonder. Jack could see her skin hadn't been frozen at the touch, which was in itself a relief.

Elsa looked up at the staff again and narrowed her gaze, as if resolving herself. She then reached up once more and grabbed firmly onto it with both hands, pulling hard. Her teeth were gritted as if fighting off a compulsion to let go.

"No, no, no," mouthed Jack urgently, "That's bad, very bad…"

Elsa couldn't hear him of course and instead just tugged again. The ice melding the staff with the wall behind the painting cracked away. Feeling the strain start to lessen, Elsa braced her feet and then tugged with all the upper body strength she had.

The staff came free far more easily than Elsa had been expecting. She staggered back, arms flailing as she lost balance, the staff went flying over her head as she toppled backwards down the stairs and into a rather ungraceful heap at the bottom.

Jack winced, 'Oh…that had to hurt.'

Elsa flipped her braid back behind her head and stood up, looking decidedly unhappy and rather annoyed on top of it. She only managed to take a single step towards the staff however before the damaged painting fell right off its hook and onto the Queen's head below. The canvas tore right through while the frame clattered to a stop around Elsa's feet.

Elsa's shoulders seemed to deflate in defeat. She then stepped over the gilded frame and approached the staff, and with a rather unrefined pout, she proceeded to kick it once clear across the hall.

Elsa glared at the staff for a long moment, as if it were suddenly somehow the manifestation of all her life's problems.

"That's it," whispered Jack, "Now just toss it out with the rest of the garbage. Just thrown the funny stick away."

Elsa then approached it slowly however. She dropped onto her haunches and extended a single finger almost experimentally towards the wooden surface.

She flinched back again after touching it and slid right back to her feet. She examined her finger, for she could feel the subtle buzzing running down it from the surface of her skin.

Elsa looked at the staff carefully. Irritation had yielded quickly to an almost childlike level of curiosity as she bent back down and slowly reached her whole hand out. The palm brushed the staff and it started to roll over, causing Elsa to end up gripping it entirely on reflex to halt it.

Elsa gasped as she felt a surge go up the length of her arm, which in turn seemed to spread out through her entire frame. The staff seemed to literally thrum with some kind of strange energy. It was a power that felt so familiar, so…her.

It felt good.

A tiny smile graced Elsa's features as she rolled it back and forth in her palms.

Jack scowled, "Oh, _perfect…_"

Another figure appeared. Another woman, in this case one with her strawberry blonde hair tied into pigtails behind her, "What'cha doing?" Jack heard her ask with what he recognised clearly as familial casualness, "Is that what we saw smash through the window?" she asked, tilting her head to regard the object which Elsa seemed so focused on.

The Queen blinked, as if startled, and then brought the staff about to rest the base on the floor, "Y-yes, it's a…thing. I found it."

Anna frowned, normally her sister was far more eloquent in her speech patterns, "It's a stick. You found a _stick_." Said the girl, who Jack rightly guessed was Anna, who then cocked an eyebrow at her sister, "you know, you _have_ a royal sceptre. You really don't need to be walking about with a bit of old driftwood."

Elsa blinked again, seeming almost confused for some reason, "I…I know, it's just…there's something about this…"

Anna sighed, "Well if you want to keep it, then you could at least make it look a little less…blah."

"Blah?" echoed Jack, his pride wounded, "It's _minimalist_, you brainless little…"he whispered, trailing off.

Else cocked her head, and Jack watched in disbelief as a spiral of ice grew up the curves and contours of the staff from the base, gathering about until a great icy gem blazed into existence within the curve at the top.

Jack's eyes went saucer wide, 'How did she…?' he thought, before whispering out, "_Impossible_…"

"Much better," said Anna with a nod.

Elsa inclined her head, "Well, it is mine…"

"Wrong on both counts!" hissed Jack, slamming a foot down, inadvertently doing so right onto Sven's back.

The reindeer reared back in panic as a lance of icy chill shot down his spine, "Whoa there!" shouted Kristoff, putting a reassuring hand on his back while Jack held himself easily up by his handhold on the window frame. Kristoff took his eyes off Jack to look at his partner's back, "What is this?" he murmured, rubbing off what was clearly a thin layer of ice from the deer's fur and cracking it away from the skin too.

One of the windows squeaked as it was opened. Kristoff looked up as Anna poked her head out to investigate the source of the noise. Her eyes lit up slightly when she saw him in that way he always found adorable, "Kristoff? What are you doing out here?"

He pointed upwards, "W-well I was just out here with…" and he realised that he was pointing at thin air.

Jack had vanished.

"Something wrong, Kristoff?" asked Anna.

Kristoff looked about, "Jack?" he called out, but there was no sign of him. He scratched his head, "Where'd he get to?"

Anna propped her chin atop her hands, "You know, you've got Sven, me and even Elsa to talk to on a regular basis. You really don't need to be making up imaginary friends on top of that too."

"He was not imaginary!" he objected, "Just look at what he did to Sven's back."

"Sure…" said Anna sceptically, "Why don't you go and take Sven to the royal stables. They're about to close the gates for the evening. If you'd like, you could spend the night with…" she then glanced quickly at Elsa and back, "Ahem, in one of the, ah…guest rooms."

Kristoff couldn't stop the blush forming, "I would be honoured, Anna." And he flourished a slight bow before leading Sven away.

Anna watched him go with a slightly dreamy smile before turning her attention to the broken window. She couldn't help but notice the window frame appeared to be heavily coated with ice and there were strange, isolated patches of it running up the glass. Anna shrugged it off. She didn't consider anything an anomaly when it came to ice any more, especially when Elsa was around.

Jack was sat atop the roof above the ballroom letting his legs dangle idly over the ledge. He watched Kristoff leave and then Anna as she closed the window below.

Jack could sense his staff directly below him and he stood up when he felt it start to move slowly away. He followed it in his minds' eye for a long while, moving only when it started to get out of range.

He looked to the sun as it began dipping behind the horizon. Night would soon be upon them, and he watched the groundskeepers below as they moved the heavy palace gates into their closed position.

Jack's mind was caught on Elsa though. She'd manipulated ice. If it had somehow been an accidental extension of his own staff's power then he might have understood it, but neither of the sisters had seemed even remotely surprised when it occurred, and then there was the way she could touch it with such impunity.

Jack leaned right back against the tiled surface with a deep contemplative frown, his legs crossed above him, "None of this makes any sense…"

While Elsa continued to linger hauntingly in the back of Jack's thoughts, he remembered he had a bigger concern than one mysterious woman. He needed his staff back. While it was true that he possessed all his power without it, it was far more unfocused and without control since he'd never really bothered to practice without a conduit. And whilst he _could_ hypothetically forge another symbol to channel his power through, it would take quite some time to do so.

But then there was the principal of the thing: That was _his_ staff. He'd had it since it was just a normal bit of wood that he'd carried as a child centuries ago. It was the thing that had allowed him to save his sister. Besides his memories, it wall all he had _left_ of his human life.

No, resolved Jack, he _had _to get it back.

He realized therefore that he had two options open to him: 1) He could engage in some foolish heist by breaking into the palace in the dead of night to steal his staff back from right under Queen Elsa's nose, or there was 2) He could wait until morning, calmly knock on the doors, and then request an audience with her majesty. Then all Jack had to do was explain about the staff being his and calmly apologize for the damages done and accept whatever punishment was deemed suitable for the accidental vandalism.

One of these options was smart. The other was not.

Guess which one Jack Frost went with…

His usual boyish smirk graced his features as he folded his arms and sat up to wait, "You know what they say: why put off till tomorrow what you can do today?"

Meanwhile, and unbeknownst to Jack, in the exact spot over the fjord where he had emerged earlier, a tiny crackle of violet light lit up the dark as a sliver of black smoke emerged seemingly from nowhere. The smoky, sandy substance undulated and danced about in the night as it quickly began to grow and expand.

The silence of Arendelle's night was then briefly broken by a low, dark chuckle of twisted amusement...

_-__α__-_

_To be continued…_

[A/N] Ah, again just a bit of fun to revitalise the old creative juices, however this may regardless be one I'll come to write in those spare moments. It'll all depend I guess since I do already sort of have the plot formulated. Until next time perhaps…

Catch you in Chapter 2: Blizzard


	2. Chapter 2: Blizzard

[A/N] You just had to like it, didn't you? Very well then, since I find this fic bizarrely easy to just write in my free time and since the latest chapter of my other fic is written and just in the long, dull editing stage, I think I can keep this one going for the interim. Reminds me of the style I used in my older fics, which is a rather fun method to revisit. Okay then since we're officially doing this now, may as well pick up right where we left off…

**Chapter 2: Blizzard**

Jack slinked over the rooftops in perfect silence. He'd meander around the various outcroppings of bay windows and balconies and hop chimneys, all without making so much as a single sound or even slowing down.

He came to a stop by a large skylight over a darkened room and edged closer until he could see what lay below. The room was still and empty. Jack guessed that it was most likely one of the many guest rooms he assumed the palace had. He jiggled the catch open on the window and then slipped inside. He hung down by one hand and then tugged the window closed with the other. He then dropped soundlessly onto the carpeted floor below before his fingers could get caught in the closing skylight.

Jack tensed when a noise emanated from the door opposite. A dim shaft of light was visible from underneath. He darted to the side when it opened an instant later, only for Kristoff to walk out of what turned out to be an en suite, yawning loudly.

Jack stayed still and quiet, pressed flat behind the full length mirror while Kristoff sleepily circled the bed before flopping down and tucking himself in.

Staying low, Jack dropped down and circled the edge of the room, keeping a wary eye on the bed, thankful that Kristoff was at least rolled on one side and facing away.

Jack slipped swiftly out the door and dashed down the corridor, quickly pressing himself back again alongside an empty suit of armour. He waited for a moment until he heard the door click shut again. Peering out, Jack confirmed that Kristoff had merely closed the door again without further investigation.

"So far, so good…" murmured Jack quietly, who came out of concealment and began calmly strolling down the hallway.

He gave an appreciative hum as he surveyed left and right, "Nice place," he said, his hands swinging idly back and forth in the absence of his staff, "Must be nice being royalty…"

Jack hissed with frustration when he sighted a shadow moving from around a corner up ahead. He looked quickly about for a place to hide. He rolled his eyes with dismay however when he realised that the only place available was a set of long curtains. He slipped behind them regardless.

Jack peeked out just as a sleepy-looking woman with dishevelled strawberry blonde hair dressed in nightclothes walked slowly by. A plate piled with chocolates and other snacks was balanced precariously in one of her hands. It took Jack a moment to recognise her as Princess Anna.

Suddenly, her left foot slipped forwards and she barely caught herself before completely losing balance.

Anna let out a loud yawn and bent down to pick up the small assortment of bites that had rolled to freedom from her plate. Her eyes cleared slightly and Jack realised with annoyance that she'd slipped in the trail of ice he'd inadvertently left all the way up the hall. His irritation turned to panic when he realised said trail also led right up to his current hiding place.

Jack's fear became a swift reality as Anna eyed the trail up the corridor before looking back the way she'd came, and back again once more. The guardian tensed when she looked right in his direction. The barely perceptible movement of the curtain wasn't missed by her.

Anna narrowed her eyes, "Elsa?" she asked unsurely.

Jack made no response other than to accidentally freeze solid the entire curtain he was gripping in both hands.

"I'll take that as a yes…" said Anna, who tilted her head slightly, "What are you doing?"

Jack again gave no response other than to slip free one hand and wave it in a dismissive circle, as if to say, 'Well, y'know…' and let her make something up for herself.

Anna smiled weakly, "You know, if you're going to go sneaking midnight snacks too, it'd probably help if you didn't leave such an obvious trail of evidence."

Jack made a show of holding that hand up in admission.

Jack gritted his teeth, mentally screaming, 'Come _on_, princess bed-hair, just go already!'

"What are you even doing back there?" asked Anna, stepping forwards and tilting her head curiously.

"Stop!" yelped Jack, holding a hand out. And he clenched his eyes closed, face-palming himself with the other in shame when he realised he'd actually yelped it out in a squeaky girlish falsetto.

Anna blinked, and then frowned slightly, "Elsa, what is _up_ with your voice?"

Jack coughed audibly, "Ahem…just a cold." He adlibbed, "Must've caught something." He squeaked, much to his mounting, _literal_ eternal shame, "Best not get too close."

Jack was just thankful to whatever deities that may be out there that the Bunny wasn't around right now. It would be decades before he heard the end of it, if ever.

"A cold?" echoed Anna, cocking an eyebrow up, "I didn't know you could _get_ colds."

"Well, I surprise even myself sometimes," he squeaked.

"If you say so…" said Anna dubiously, and she turned to walk off, "You make sure you get some rest then."

To save himself further shame, Jack just gave her a silent thumbs up in response.

Anna's bemusement went up another notch, but turned and left regardless.

Jack began to slip out of his cover.

"And one more thing," she called back.

Jack flinched and rolled his eyes full circle, "_What_?" he snapped, not bothering to change his voice this time.

Anna seemed put back for a second, "Just…umm…make sure clean up all this ice tomorrow. If you're feeling better that is."

Jack said nothing this time beyond making throttling actions with his hands behind the curtain. Anna turned to walk again after a brief hesitation.

But something in Jack had snapped; a limit had just been passed. A proper response was needed.

Needless to say, Anne was more than a little surprised when a snowball suddenly impacted her in the backside with enough force to knock her down once more, face first into her plate of snacks this time.

Stunned, Anna scrambled back up just in time to see a pale, blue-clad figure vanish round the corner at the other end of the corridor. A distinct chuckling could also be heard, one that somehow didn't disturb the quiet of the night.

"Okay," said Anna, brushing the snow off and missing the subtle blue sparkling of light that fluttered away from it, "So Elsa's officially gone nuts," and for some reason she found a mischievous smile appearing on her face, "and she's officially bought herself a snowball fight…" and she found that it took great amounts of willpower just to force herself to add on, "….in the morning, of course."

With the bizarre compulsion to immediately pursue Else and pelt her repeatedly with snowballs barely squelched, Anna turned to finally retire for the night.

-α-

Meanwhile, outside in the normally tranquil quiet of Arendelle's night, Olaf was on edge, which was to say the least a very rare occurrence for him.

Something simply felt _off_ in the night, and it was giving him a distinct chill down his spine, which was quite a feat considering he was made entirely out of snow and had no spine to actually speak of.

Olaf didn't really sleep, he sometimes gave the illusion of snoozing while he daydreamed (which he did often), but that was about it. After all, magically animated snow constructs didn't really have a need to nap. As a result, he did get quite a lot of free time whilst the rest of the world slept, and so he often took it upon himself to patrol the town during the hours of darkness and keep an eye on things. This was what he had been in the process of doing as normal until he'd felt that ominous sensation.

Something felt wrong.

For some reason, Olaf found himself edging slowly through the streets, being careful to peek around corners before continuing.

He spun back around on his midsection when he heard a bizarre squawking sound coming from the darkness of a nearby alleyway. It didn't sound like a mouse or a bird. Whatever it was there was something horribly eerie about it.

"Somebody there?" the snowman asked, leaning into the shadows.

Olaf staggered as a blur of movement shot out from the blackness and across the street past him. He barely caught sight of what looked like a tiny, almost skeletal black horse as it dashed off into the skies, dragging behind it a long, dark sandy trail.

"What?" murmured Olaf who, now that he was looking up, noticed numerous other trails on the edge of his vision. He did a slow, sweeping 360 on his base and realised there were in fact black trails coming out from the roofs of nearly every building in town, all heading in the same direction.

Consumed more with wonder than anything resembling fear, Olaf kept his gaze skyward as he followed the stream that was directly above him. He followed as it meandered and twisted, drawing him inevitably downhill toward the water's edge. He almost had to crouch by that point due to the sheer number of black torrents now streaming from all directions just above his head.

Olaf edged along the pier parallel to the trails of black, keeping a careful eye on them as he went. They eventually began spiralling about each other and out over the water, where they gathered finally down to one point.

A large, perfectly spherical orb of shimmering black sand hung silently in the air above the water. Its surface rippled like liquid at the point where the streams fed into it. Olaf could only stare at it in open wonder. It was an incredible thing to see a blackness that could somehow shimmer in the full moonlight so brightly.

The snowman's gaze was then drawn downward and he finally noticed the sphere's shadow. It was of course black like the orb, but it was such an odd black in that it was so sublimely perfect in its sheer darkness that it was less a shadow and more an utter void of pure lightlessness.

Strangest of all, the shadow didn't even look sphere-shaped.

No, it was shaped like a man.

It was only now, as Olaf looked into that darkness, that a twinge of creeping fear finally started to tingle in the back of his mind.

Then things changed: the trails of black suddenly wafted into the air and wavered there, making the shimmering orb appear as if it had sprouted tails. Each Olaf noted had one of those strange equine creatures riding upon their flat surfaces. He then watched as the trails suddenly and swiftly vanished into the large sphere, as if sucked in by some unseen force.

The point where the trails vanished then rippled outwards like a membrane had been torn until finally the orb seemed to bleed out a thick, dark teardrop of the sandy substance directly into the shadow below.

Olaf half-expected the substance to pool out over the water's surface, but instead it simply vanished into that black void.

Suddenly, the shadow convulsed, warped and shifted, as if it were being displaced by the additional mass.

The shadow then elongated, as if squeezed at one end. To Olaf's shock, it then shot towards him across the water with blinding speed like a serpent.

The snowman staggered as the black shape sped up the dock and then made a beeline right for him. He held his stick arms up in front of him as the shadow streaked into his own and then…

Nothing.

Olaf slowly lowered his arms to look out in front of him. There was nothing there. Silence now blanketed the area. There was absolutely no noise with the exception of the gentle splashing of the waves against the dock supports and the creaking of nearby boats.

Olaf seemed to sag and exhaled a long, icy sigh of relief. He wasn't sure what the anomaly was that he'd just witnessed, but that was okay, he rationalised, just so long as it really _was_-

"Well, well, well…" interjected a slow, almost amused voice that seemed to slice straight through Olaf's thoughts like a scythe. The snowman staggered back in shock so hard that he ended up hitting the ground and dislodging his own nose in the process.

Olaf readjusted himself and spun back about as that calm, cold voice continued, "What _do_ we have here?" and the snowman took a hesitant step back when he discovered there was in fact a figure standing right inside his personal space.

Olaf didn't care that he lacked an actual oesophagus, he gulped regardless.

The tall, almost unnaturally thin figure was stood within Olaf's own shadow. He was garbed in clothes so black that the snowman couldn't quite tell where man ended and shadow began.

The newcomer was peering down at Olaf with an almost twisted smile of curiosity. His grey, bony fingers were laced together almost cordially in front of him. He had harsh, angular features and black hair so jagged that Olaf wouldn't be surprised if you could actually injure yourself on it.

The snowman found himself recoiling backwards when the figure leaned suddenly in to scrutinise him with intense, yellow eyes that burned with the darkness of a solar eclipse.

The figure's brow clenched and he pulled back up to full height again. He then raised a finger up in thought before pointing it right at Olaf, "You can see me."

Olaf returned a slightly disbelieving glance in response, "With the greatest of respect, you're kind of hard to miss, sir."

The man's eyes narrowed in thought, "That is interesting. That is…_very_ interesting." He mused almost in a whisper. His gaze then travelled past Olaf and he began moving. The snowman couldn't help but notice how he seemed to glide rather than actually walk as he went over to one of the posts supporting the dock. His thin hand then extended to almost experimentally touch a patch of frost that was different from the rest of the early winter's snow that dusted the ground. A thoughtful frown knitted his sharp features as he rubbed the icy residue between his digits. He arched about then, his gaze following what appeared to be a trail of similar frost leading up and away from the dock towards the town.

A smirk that showed just a few too many teeth then pulled at the man's mouth. The expression actually looked far less like a smile and more like an animal readying to sink its jaws into prey.

The man then orientated his head and torso back about in one smooth movement to look right at Olaf, as if he were suddenly considering something. The sheer darkness of the man's gaze had the little snowman edging slowly back further with each second it was trained on him.

The figure then dropped his hand back to his side once more and drifted closer. He began circling the snowman, observing him, assessing him, "Tell me, creature…"

"-Olaf," corrected the snowman in a tone that was possibly just a little too chirpy as he looked up. His mid-section circled continuously about so he could keep track of the man.

"_Olaf…_" intoned the man, smiling in a non-too pleasant way, "Tell me, what are you?"

"I'm a snowman," he replied happily.

"My eyes told me that," the man snapped, his expression shifting briefly to a scowl before being masked behind that smile again, "What I meant was, how did you come into being?"

"The princesses made me when they were little girls. We always used to play together, but they forgot about me for a long time, but now I'm back again."

The man smiled again, though it seemed immensely forced, "How sweet, how…adorable."

"Why thank you."

The smile vanished, "I was being facetious."

"Oh…" said Olaf, who just smiled again, "Well you are very good at it, sir."

The figure glowered at the snowman and then just continued circling. He raised a hand up and began idly, almost experimentally swirling his fingertips through the flurry above Olaf's head.

The snowman was more than a little disturbed when the cloud above him seemed to darken, and he staggered clear away from the man when an angry crackle of dark, impossible lightning flashed through his perpetual storm.

The slender figure just chuckled at the reaction and then brought his hand up to his face, examining the icy swirls of residual magic that clung to and danced about his fingertips. He inhaled and then let out an almost pleasured shudder that seemed to go all the way down the length of his tall form.

He rounded on Olaf suddenly and held his hand up before him, "Tell me, snowman, whose power is this?" he demanded, an almost excitable note in his voice as he looked at his upheld limb, "This…_power_ over the cold that can imbue life itself?" He continued, leaning ever closer as he spoke, "This power that oh so positively _reeks_ of such barely overcome, such barely forgotten…_fear?_" he finished, his manic eyes and bared teeth far too close for the Olaf's taste.

There was a moment of silence between them.

"Question…" said Olaf.

The man hadn't moved, though his brow twitched, "What is it?"

"Look, uh…Mr umm…"

"_Pitch_," he said, "Pitch Black."

"L-look, Mister…uhm…Mister Black. I'm not very experienced in the ways of the world. I haven't travelled as far or as wide as I've dreamed of doing yet, so I just hope you won't take this at all the wrong way…"

Pitch frowned as he stood back up to full height, "What is it?"

"Are you evil?"

Pitched blinked, and then just smiled, "Now what would make you ask a thing like that?"

Olaf hummed and gave the shadowy, seven foot tall, darkly dressed figure with manic eyes, claw-like fingers, threatening voice and ominous name a brief up and down glance, "I'm not really sure _what_ it is…"

"_Well…_" said Pitch, holding out his hands amicably, "You know what they say: Never judge a book by its cover."

Olaf wasn't quite sure that expression applied when the book in question had the words 'Evil. Do not open.' written on the cover.

"So you say a 'princess' made you?" asked Pitch, his voice as low and sickly cordial as ever.

Olaf suddenly looked even more uncomfortable, "D-did I say that?" he asked hastily, "No, no, no. I didn't say Princess'. I said, umm…_Princes._ Yeah, that's it. In fact, you should be looking for someone, say, thirteenth in line for the throne. Huge family, Kingdom in the isles down south somewhere, you can't miss him. You should go and look for him right away."

"A wonderful suggestion," said Pitch with his usual flare and faux amicability, "But I think I'll just set my own course for now…" and with that, Pitch turned and began to walk off. He stopped a few feet away from Olaf however and then glanced down at him over one shoulder, "Oh, and _thank you _for your assistance," and without another word, Pitch swept a foot back from under his robe and unceremoniously booted Olaf off the pier and into the fjord.

Pitch waited for the splash before nodding in satisfaction and then turning ahead once more.

Olaf's arms appeared over the edge of the dock seconds later as he scrambled to draw himself up in a panic. His body was already half melted by the time he dragged himself up completely, "Quick, quick!" he cried, waving his arms up at his snow flurry, stirring it up until his body swiftly reformed.

He looked back up the dock, only to find Pitch Black had vanished. Olaf scratched the side of his head with one stick hand, "You know, I can't help but think he did that on purpose…"

-α-

Unlike those in the surrounding areas, those in the palace that night were not plagued by sudden and almost bizarrely terrifying nightmares.

One person in particular was having a very strange dream indeed.

Queen Elsa was almost always formulaic in the sort of dreams she had, even the bad ones. This was mainly due to the fact that she was never the sort who would lie to herself about what her fears, insecurities and hopes were. And so when dreams did come, they rarely actually surprised her. If anything, Elsa normally prided herself with how ordered and composed she was able to keep herself most of the time.

This night however was a rare exception. It was an exception that came, rather literally, out of the blue. It was a dream so abstract, so paradoxical and out of left field that Elsa couldn't help but wonder at the time what could have possibly spurred it on.

Elsa was stood upon a vast, flat plane of which she could see no end. Snow lay thickly on the ground and a blizzard seemed to blow from every single direction. There were no visible hills, trees or any other sign of life. It was just an all-encompassing, unending winter; winter and literally nothing else.

Elsa told herself that she should feel lonely, or perhaps scared about not knowing where she was or where everyone else was.

But she didn't.

It was just her and the wind and snow, and so Elsa started walking.

She didn't feel confused, she felt_ connected._ That was the only word she could use to describe it. Elsa had friends, a sister she loved so very dearly, and powers she had come to feel blessed for having as opposed to cursed, but it had always only been her when it came to those abilities.

No matter how close she became to others or how hard she tried, there was always that one thing making her feel just that little disjointed with the rest of the world; something that set her apart. But that was not the case right now. Right now Elsa didn't fear the winter around her because she felt so much a part of it, like she was bleeding into it.

She'd once said how she felt at one with the wind and skies. Now, in this place, she felt she _was _the wind and skies. It was as if she was linked to winter as a whole; to the entirety of the winds and snow all over the world, as opposed to just being a person who caused such things.

_Connected._

At one with the world at last.

Such aweing concepts should have frightened her as she pushed further into the whiteness, and Elsa almost felt like she was screaming at herself to get scared.

But she didn't.

This was fun.

This was a fun dream, and Elsa had absolutely no idea why, and she didn't care in the slightest.

Suddenly, from all around, there came a sound. From the world around her came a laugh; an innocent, joyous exultation of pure freedom that seemed to dance within the wind itself.

"Is someone there?" called Elsa, looking desperately about to find the source. It was as if the never-ending whiteness and joy had suddenly found a voice. There was _another_.

A blur shot by Elsa's form and she swung about, trying to face it. It appeared again from the opposite side, and again it just evaded her sight, "Who are you?" she demanded almost desperately, but every attempt to catch sight of the shape would always end in failure. It was as if it were everywhere at once, appearing in one place only long enough to tease her.

Desperation became frustration, which contrasted oddly with the bizarre sense of fun she was having.

Another chuckle sounded out. It was as if the form found her tries to view it in any one place amusing.

Dream Elsa clenched her fists, and that was when a bizarre idea came to her.

If this winter had a shape it was using to appear in, but it was also everywhere at once, then the answer was simple: cram the entirety of absolutely everything down into one place.

It was dream logic, and therefore made absolutely perfect sense to Dream Elsa. She was, after all, very good with winters.

Elsa closed her eyes and began extending her influence. The wind erupted around her in protest until it was almost deafening. The snow spun about her as if part of one incomprehensibly large twister, but Elsa wasn't afraid. She just kept on pulling, kept on gathering.

All at once, the swirl of winter began spiralling downwards around her, and Elsa tried to force it into a shape. Somehow, the entire landscape suddenly vanished, as if she'd accidentally ripped it away too in the process.

Elsa gasped, her voice echoing over the sudden silence. A perfect void of white surrounded her. It was absolute nothingness. But somehow Elsa knew that she didn't fail. After a brief survey, she realised indeed that the landscape wasn't completely empty.

Elsa looked curiously ahead. There was a pond sitting there, looking rather out of place in the middle of the nothingness.

Elsa drifted in a beeline closer. The water was frozen almost completely solid with the exception of one small section near the middle, as if someone or something had fallen through it. And standing perfectly upright, contrasted against the white and joined to the ice at the base was a wooden staff that Elsa dimly recognised.

The Queen edged forwards until the tip of her feet touched the rim of the ice. The instant she set her foot down however a long crack appeared in the frozen surface. But she had to get at it; it was somehow the key to what she wanted to know. Not that she knew why.

"Careful…" came a borderline cocky voice, "That really doesn't look safe."

Elsa frowned, "I'm not afraid of the cold."

A quiet humph sounded out, "Suit yourself…"

Else scowled and turned about to tell the voice to just leave her be. There was a hooded figure standing with his back to her a few metres away.

Elsa looked briefly ahead again, only to notice the pond and staff had vanished. When she looked back again she saw the staff once more, only now it was hanging loosely in the hooded figure's hand.

The Queen stepped closer, but somehow no distance was closed. She tried again, but no matter what she did she simply couldn't get close. She ran and she ran, but not an inch vanished between them.

Elsa staggered to a halt, "Who are you?" she demanded.

The figure remained silent and unmoving.

Elsa curved about to the side, trying to circle about the stranger and see his face, but it was to no avail. The world seemed to orientate with every step she took, as if to tell her that this was not something she was meant to see. But she kept running. She had to see. If this was the winter she'd been at the heart of then she had to find out…

"Please," she called out pleadingly to the image; to the seeming embodiment of all of winter, "Just tell me your name!"

The turning world stopped so suddenly that Elsa tripped over her own feet. She didn't get up though, something was stopping her from doing that, but she could still see, so she didn't care too much.

She could see the figure was no longer perfectly still.

She watched the staff tilt upwards. The hooded figure then flipped it almost idly into the air. It twirled full-circle once and was caught deftly in the other hand without him even bothering to look up or back, "Who am I?" came an almost musing voice.

Elsa took a sharp breath. She hadn't actually expected a response. She said nothing, and watched as the stranger slowly turned his right palm upwards. Then, to her surprise, a shimmering blue snowball began to materialise.

Elsa found that she still couldn't move, and she watched the figure flick the hovering snowball into the air and then catch it readily in his grip.

Despite all the other emotions swimming about in her, Elsa felt a strange, almost mischievous joy welling up to the surface. She had absolutely no idea why. It was as if it wasn't even coming from her, "Oh, don't you _dare…_"

The hooded stranger angled himself about slightly. Else tried to make out his face, but all she could glimpse was a single, piercing blue eye looking out at her from under the hood along with a cheeky smile peaking on the side of his face.

"Think fast!" and before she could move, the stranger swung about and pelted her clear in the face with the snowball, causing the world to erupt into blizzard once more. And suddenly nothing else seemed to matter anymore. There was just the winter, the fun and the wind and the sky.

And so Elsa ran, and though she couldn't see anyone else now, she knew she was no longer just one among the wind and snow.

She'd never dreamed her powers could be a connection to something or someone. They were normally just always something for others to come to accept in her.

But she had dreamed it now, and the truth was that Elsa was just happy she had.

-α-

Jack could sense that it was close now. He walked down the corridor in perfect silence, eyes sweeping left and right, 'Now if I were a staff, where would I be hidden?'

Jack found his focus being drawn to one doorway in particular, and he felt his senses narrow down almost to a point.

'This is it…' he thought, edging slowly toward the door and reaching for the handle. Thankfully, both handle and hinges had obviously been well oiled, as they didn't make so much as a squeak as Jack opened the door and slipped inside.

"Now," he murmured under his breath, "Let's see where you've been hide-" Jack bit off the end of his sentence however, clamming up instantly as he took in the room around him.

It was a tastefully decorated bedroom, one obviously intended for a female occupant. It had large windows revealing the currently full moon outside, which cast everything into dim, silvery illumination. In the middle of the room was a very comfortable-looking bed which, most importantly of all, was currently occupied.

'Well great. That's just great, Jack,' thought the guardian to himself with exasperation, 'Sneaking into a girl's bedroom in the middle of the night…that's not creepy in the slightest.'

His shoulders sank with the weight of defeat, "Let's just get this over with…" he allowed himself to murmur.

Jack began a slow, sweeping survey of the room, scanning for his elusive staff.

He looked to the vanity table by the door, but all that was on there was a brush, a tiara, and an open box of chocolates that the occupant seemed to be keeping hidden inside of a jewelry box for some reason.

He looked to the dressers and bookcases next; nothing on or propped up against those either.

Jack's spirits began to sink as he realised there was nothing up by the windows, nor by the dress mirror either.

He even went so far as to spare the ceiling a glance.

Finally, he let his gaze travel to the one place he really didn't want to look.

'Of course it's there, where else would it be?' he thought, fighting the urge to groan as he looked over at where Queen Elsa lay, curled up and sleeping like a baby with Jack's staff hugged close like a teddy bear.

Jack flung his hands up in exasperation and began padding silently closer, "It's just one thing…" he grumbled, twirling around what his feet could detect was a creaky floorboard, "…after the other." until he found himself standing over Elsa's bedside.

He tapped one pale finger off his chin in thought, 'Now…how am I going to do this?'

Then he looked at his staff. The top was resting up against Elsa's head and letting out a gentle sparkle of etheric blue light that danced over the Queen's slumbering features.

Jack cocked an eyebrow up, regarding the staff dryly, 'Traitor…'

He reached gingerly for the staff, biting his lip. His hands came within inches of it. However, it was only then that he found his eyes drawn properly for the first time to Elsa herself.

Jack found himself giving pause as he looked down upon the slumbering Queen. Her creamy pale skin seemed to glow in the moonlight and her hair shimmered like liquid silver. A content smile graced her features.

He felt his hand drift closer, as if daring to just brush her cheek. He could feel the warmth radiating off her even from this distance. Then he heard a crackling noise off to one side, and he caught sight of where his other hand was braced on the bedside table. He felt the ice already spreading over the surface.

Jack lifted his palm up and looked at it for a long moment. He then retracted his other hand quickly, berating himself in silence, 'What are you _thinking?_'

She was human; a mortal, and he was a guardian; an immortal spirit. Jack knew that as much as people believed in him, as much as he loved to watch over them, there was always that barrier. There could never be that connection.

Jack closed his eyes and shook his head. He then shoved the feeling aside and returned his attention to the task at hand. He reached his hand quickly towards his staff. He suddenly felt an urgency to leave this place.

Jack's hand closed on the staff. Suddenly, as if somehow sensing the guardian's presence, Elsa let out a quiet mumble and rolled over, taking the staff with her.

Jack's hand dropped back to his side. With a roll of his eyes he marched around to the other side, 'Right then…' he thought, reaching out, only for Elsa to roll over again, mewling contentedly.

Jack clenched his fists and walked back once more. But as he reached close, Elsa began to shift again, "Oh now you're just messing with me!" Jack barked, his mouth bypassing his brain for one brief second.

That second was enough.

Elsa's eyes flicked open and she sat bolt upright in surprise, cracking Jack square between the eyes with her forehead in the process.

Jack staggered back, cradling his nose and leaning forwards so his hood flipped up over his head, "Really?" He yelped, "Just…_really?_" and he dropped his hands to his sides, looking up to find Elsa staring right at him with saucer-wide, unblinking eyes. She then looked to the sides, and then all about, as if needing to confirm something, before finally turning her startled gaze back to Jack again.

'Okay, Jack, play it cool, just…play it cool. Nobody does that better. Just talk your way out of it.'

"Sorry, Your Majesty," said Jack suddenly, composing himself, "Palace room service. Just checking to see if you need your bed turned down, but it…looks like you're already in it. I'll just be getting out of your way now…" and he reached almost offhandedly to take his staff back, only for Elsa to hug it closer and lean away, her blankets held up to her chest with the other hand.

"Palace…wooden staff polishing service?" he offered.

Elsa just blinked once, but said nothing.

"Palace...wooden…look, are you going to buy _anything_ I say?"

Elsa shuffled her head once to the left, then to the right.

Jack sighed and decided to drop the pretence. He extended his hand again, Elsa pulled back again on reflex. This time he didn't pull back, he just held his palm up, smiled tiredly, and then said quietly, "Look, I'm going to need that back…"

"Am I dreaming?" Elsa finally asked in a small voice.

Jack seemed mildly startled by the query, but he couldn't help but smile weakly, "Sorry, that's not my department…"

"But you never even told me your name…" she whispered.

Jack's confusion rose up a notch, but he didn't let it show, "You never asked."

Confusion seemed to sweep over Elsa's features this time, "Who _are_ you?"

Jack just shook his head, "It doesn't matter. Just forget you saw me."

Elsa began to frown, "Tell me your _name,_" and this time there was less wonder and more authority in her voice.

Jack, being Jack, had an ingrained reaction to anyone trying to force any kind of authority on him, even if the request was reasonable, "Tell you what," he said, "You give me the staff, and we'll talk for as long as you want."

Elsa passed the staff to her left hand, and Jack watched as she slowly and subtly slipped off one of the silken gloves that she seemed to wear for bed.

Her frown shifted to a glower, "I want to know who you are."

This was not going as Jack was expecting. He had no idea why she was more obsessed with his identity than why he'd broken into her room in the dead of night, "You wouldn't believe me even if I told you…" he finally responded, "Look, will you please just give me my staff back?"

Jack suddenly noticed that ice was creeping along the floor, closing quickly in around him.

And he wasn't the one causing it.

'So it's true then…' he thought, marvelling for just an instant. His eyes then flicked back to Elsa, who was holding him affixed with her gaze. A smile started to appear on Jack's face, 'Let's just see what happens when she _really_ gets riled up.'

Jack cocked his head acceptingly and laid his palms flat on the side of the bed, gripping tightly. He then looked at Elsa "In all fairness, I did ask nicely…"

Elsa opened her mouth to speak, but only got out a startled yelp when Jack proceeded to swiftly and unceremoniously flip the blankets up, tossing both them and the Queen wrapped up in them right out of bed.

Jack reached nimbly over and plucked his staff free of the bundle of blankets and limbs as Elsa tried to work out which way was up.

The guardian smiled widely as he hovered back toward the door just as the blankets encompassing Elsa burst into a cloud of snowflakes.

Elsa, looking distinctively dishevelled with her braid half undone at her side, dragged herself up using the edge of her bed, glaring as Jack vanished through the doorway.

Elsa moved to climb across her bed. She only got half way however before Jack briefly reappeared in the doorway and leaned in over Elsa's vanity table, "In for a penny…" he said, and promptly stole the box of chocolates right off the table before vanishing again.

Elsa's jaw dropped before letting out an indignant, "_Oh!_" She then scrambled the rest of the way over and went immediately into determined pursuit.

Jack's gleeful laughter echoed through the hallways. The floor froze in his path. He flipped about, skating backwards as his staff trailed behind.

Elsa then appeared in the corridor. She looked briefly stunned to find everything frozen. Her scowl quickly reappeared though, "Stop right there!"

"Stop?!" echoed Jack gaily, pausing in his retreat to execute a perfect three-sixty twirl, "I never stop!" He then hopped up so the ball of his heel was resting in the curve of his staff, essentially riding it through the corridors as Elsa began running after him, somehow managing to keep up and not slip despite not wearing skates of any kind.

Jack leaned casually back against his staff, hands resting behind his head, "I'll tell you what, why don't you try catching me?"

Elsa's gaze narrowed and she came to a stop, "As you wish…"

The Queen flicked a hand forward and released a swirl of Icy magic ahead. Jack flicked his head to the left and let it pass harmlessly by him, "That the best you-" but Jack was cut off when he found himself slamming back into a wall of solid ice that had materialised directly behind him.

Jack slid to the floor, shaking his head, "That's what I get for not looking where I'm going…"

Frowning, the guardian flicked his staff back, shattering the wall as if it were made of wafer thin glass. He then began backpedalling slowly, the base of his staff tracing left and right, leaving zigzags of icy patterns across the floor as he went.

He then swung the staff about, releasing a cold, horizontal shockwave towards the Queen.

Elsa slammed a foot down, causing a spire of ice to erupt directly up in front of her and shielding her from the wave. The rest of the corridor ended up being effectively transformed into an icy cavern.

Elsa retaliated by flinging her arm out, summoning a large, hovering sphere of ice that she hurled at the guardian.

Jack merely chuckled as he jumped up and bunny-hopped over it before skidding to a halt again using his palm.

Glowering, Elsa gathered two swirls of light in each palm and flung them forwards.

Jack smirked, "There it is…" and he bounced straight up again. He physically booted one swirl out of the air. It slammed into the wall, forming an array of icy spikes. He then caught the second in the curve of his staff and landed again, skidding backwards as he twirled his staff continuously above his head, the icy blast dancing about the wood, imprisoned by the momentum.

Jack dug one heel in, reared back with his staff, "Right back at ya…" and then flung the ball of blue energy right back at Elsa.

The Queen tensed and thrust a palm ahead, releasing a counterblast at the oncoming attack. The two swirls slammed into each other and erupted into an indoor snowstorm.

Jack looked about, smiling appreciatively as he tossed his staff idly across from one hand to the other, "Not bad. Not bad at all. You definitely get an A for effort. A bit lacking in imagination though…"

Elsa frowned, "Who are you calling lacking?"

Jack caught his staff between his toes so he could hold both hands up defensively, "I'm just saying, try showing your work a little."

Elsa's brow twitched. She could tell he was goading her, and she was about to take a second to calm down when Jack flicked a chocolate out from his hoodie pocket and into his mouth. He hummed, "Truffle…_nice_."

"Alright…" said Elsa, and pressed both hands onto the ground this time. Jack stood back to full attention, staff at the ready as two huge ice crystals formed on the ground, which then began swelling up and growing, shaping into something…

The icy formations quickly shimmered and adjusted, coalescing in the space of a few seconds until Jack found himself face to face with a pair of perfect, icy copies… of himself.

Jack's jaw dropped.

Elsa then flourished her fingers out and a pair of blue swirls danced about the clones' hands before transforming into a pair of perfect, snow-white copies of Jack's staff.

In perfect tandem, the crystalline versions of the guardian shifted into a readied stance.

Jack could only stare in silence. Then his expression changed.

Jack snickered, as if trying to contain something. A chuckle escaped next. Eventually the guardian just cracked up into a fit of unrestrained, joyous laughter, holding himself up with both hands on his staff.

"W-what is it?" stammered Elsa.

"I-it's just…" said Jack, waving a hand between the two clones, "you're amazing!" and he chuckled again, "I mean that's just fantastic!" He paused to look between the two, "I never would've thought of anything like this." He looked to Elsa then, "You really are something special."

Elsa shifted, tugging at the neck of her nightgown as she looked off to one side, "Y-yes well…are you willing to at least talk with me now?"

Jack hummed, "Hmm, no…I'm still going to run," and with one final, cheeky spin of his staff, the guardian turned about and sped off.

"After him," said Elsa. The clones nodded back at her before launching themselves into pursuit.

Jack glanced back, smiling widely as he skated off, "Come and get me, you handsome devils!"

The two clones crisscrossed paths as Jack spun back about, staff raised sideward to block an overhead strike from one of the imitation guardians. The other hooked the top of his staff about Jack's midsection, swinging him fully about and straight into the wall. This allowed the other to pin him firmly in place with one forearm.

Jack's eyes flicked to where Elsa still stood, observing from further down the hallway in silence. He returned his attention to the now still clones and smiled, "I'm telling you, you guys are taking this way too seriously," and he kicked down on the top of his dropped staff, causing it to flip up and clonk the clone restraining the guardian on the back of the head, "You two just need to learn how to have a little _fun._"

The icy form peeled away from the guardian and twitched, spasming slightly as if disturbed. Jack then flipped his staff back into his hand and tapped the other on the head too for good measure.

They both shook their heads in confusion, "So…" said Jack, looking between them, "How you guys doing?"

"Not bad," said one, much to Elsa's surprise, since she hadn't actually made them with the ability to speak.

"I'm actually feeling pretty good," said the other rather chirpily.

Jack spoke between them almost conspiratorially, "Hey, you guys know what might be fun?"

"What, boss?" asked one.

Jack nodded back up the hallway, "Get _her_ instead…"

"You're the boss!" they chimed, mock saluting with their snow staffs.

Elsa gasped as the two faux Jacks spun about and charged her head on whilst the real one remained back, "You three have fun!" he called, waving with his staff as he turned and left.

Elsa braced herself, and an instant before the clones reached her, she jumped back a step, leaving a perfect snow copy of herself in her place.

The clones impacted the fake Elsa, which immediately expanded to encompass both before exploding into a shower of snowflakes and taking the two copies with it.

Elsa sagged forwards slightly and exhaled a relieved breath. She then looked up just in time to see a snowball smack her in the V-neck of her nightgown. There was a chocolate embedded in it.

Elsa followed it as it as it peeled away and fell to the floor, "You can have that one back!" came a shout from somewhere up ahead, "It had hazelnuts in it. I'm not a fan."

'Staying calm…' thought Elsa, her whole right eye twitching, 'I am staying…calm.'

-α-

Yawning, Anna found herself waking up for the second time that night. Only this time it was due to a racket that even a sleeper as heavy as she was couldn't ignore.

Rubbing her head, she emerged into the corridor, "What on earth is going…" she trailed off however when she took in the winter landscape that seemed to have taken over the hallway, complete with indoor blizzard, "…on…out here?"

"Guardian on a sugar rush, comin' through!" a voice shouted from off to the side and a blue blur shot by Anna, missing her by a centimetres and almost knocking her clean from her feet. Only a hand braced against the wall prevented her toppling over entirely.

Anna looked quickly off in the direction the blur had gone, but it was already out of sight, "What is going on out here tonight?" She noticed something moving in her peripheral vision however and turned to find Elsa standing at an intersection in the hallways, looking between the various directions before striding down the hall in her direction, eyes set dead ahead.

"Elsa?" asked Anna unsurely, noting that her sister didn't look entirely in sorts. Her hair was a mess, something Anna had never seen with her before, and was almost entirely pulled free from its usual braid. Her nightgown was ruffled too and coated with snowflakes.

And she did _not_ look happy. Her fists were balled up at her sides as she looked up ahead for something. And if Anna didn't know any better, she could've sworn her big sister was twitching slightly.

That couldn't have been a good sign.

"Are you…okay?" asked Anna.

"Where is he?" she asked, still looking ahead.

"_Elsa…_" said Anna as slowly and calmly as possible, "I'm going to need you to calm down. You're causing a mini-winter in here."

"It wasn't me!" she objected, "Well…not…_entirely_ at least."

Anna frowned, "Then who was it, the _other_ person in the palace with mystical ice powers?"

Elsa was about to inform her sister that that's precisely who it was, but instead she just took a long, calming breath, "Just…which way did he go?"

"Who?"

"The boy that was in my room!" she snapped, "I had him for a moment but he got away."

Anna's eyes went wide and her jaw slowly dropped, "A…boy?"

"Yes," she replied, still glancing about.

"You had a boy in your room?"

Elsa nodded.

"_You_?"

"Yes," she snapped impatiently, pausing again to recompose herself and disperse the snow and ice in the hallways, "Well _did you_-" but she cut herself off when she realised Anna was wearing possibly the widest grin she'd ever seen on her face. Elsa frowned, "What is it?"

Anna seemed to almost bounce on her feet and Elsa's bewilderment went up a level when her sister suddenly swung about and knocked rapidly on the door next to hers, "Kristoff, Kristoff!"

A barely awake Kristoff appeared a moment later, "W-what is it?"

"It finally happened!" cried Anna happily, clapping her hands.

"What did?" he asked, squinting his eyes and rubbing some sleep out.

"Elsa sneaked a boy back to her room!" she whispered.

Elsa rolled her eyes, her warring feelings briefly vanishing in a cloud of utter exasperation.

"_Really?_" said Kristoff, instantly awake as Anna edged back towards Elsa and began fixing her hair without even looking in that way only sisters seem able to do while gossiping.

"It's not what you think," groaned Elsa, briefly massaging her temples and letting Anna fix her appearance.

"I'm sure…" said Anna as she finished with her hair and brushed off the snow.

"We only just met!"

Anna stood back and rested her arms on her hips, "Oh, so it's a crime when I do it, but when _you_ do it-"

Elsa clapped a hand over Anna's mouth, "-It is _not_ like that. He broke in, stole that staff I found and then ran."

"Staff?" asked Kristoff with a frown, "Did…did he have white hair by any chance?" Elsa's attention turned to him instantly, "And a strange aversion to footwear?"

"You know him?" she breathed.

"Not really, we just met today. He mentioned he was looking for the thing that broke the window earlier on. He said his name was Jack."

"Oh, so then he wasn't imaginary…"mused Anna, eliciting a grumble from Kristoff, "Then maybe it really was his."

"It was…" said Elsa quietly, thinking to herself.

Anna shrugged, "Well it's not like I agree with him breaking in, but if he's got what he came for, and it is his…maybe, and I'm just _saying…_maybe we should just drop it."

"He…" said Elsa, unsure suddenly, "He had…powers. I…think they were like mine," and she found herself looking down at her hands.

"Are you sure?" asked Anna.

"I told you to look at Sven's back earlier." said Kristoff, "I swear he froze solid part of his fur just by touching him."

"Is that why you want to catch him?" asked Anna.

Elsa looked away, "I…I don't know. He just…he ran away from me."

Anna and Kristoff looked to each other. The princess edged closer and nudged her sister in the side, "Come on then…"

"What?" asked Elsa, looking back to her sister.

"You know…"

Elsa shook her head.

"Was he cute?"

The queen rolled her eyes, "Don't be ridiculous, Anna."

"Spill…" said Anna, folding her arms.

Elsa glanced at her, "He was five parts absolutely insane, four parts utterly infuriating…"

"…_And_?" prodded Anna, poking her in the side again.

Elsa almost pouted before reluctantly adding, "…and maybe _one_ part cute."

Kristoff looked to Anna, "Translation?"

"He was really, really cute," Replied Anna with a nod.

Elsa just groaned and turned for the window. She fumbled with the catch for a second before pushing it open.

"W-what are you doing?" asked Anna as Elsa lifted one leg over the side.

"I'm climbing out the window, "she replied with a grunt as she pulled herself up to sit on the windowsill.

"I can see that. I'm a little more curious as to the why though."

"Because it's a shortcut to the main doors."

Anna frowned, "And what makes you think he'll escape by going right out the front door?"

Elsa's gaze narrowed, "Trust me. That's where he's going."

"Why don't you just let him go?" asked Kristoff, only for Anna to elbow him once in the side, "Ow! _What_?"

Anna scowled at him, "He broke into the palace, vandalised the place-"

"-and he stole my chocolates…" mumbled Elsa under her breath,

"Oh, w-well in that case you should…umm…you should totally go and get him," said Anna, swinging an enthusiastic fist, "We can't be letting that stand." and then looked to Kristoff, narrowing her gaze pointedly at him.

He blinked, "R-right…what she said."

Elsa looked back to her sister and gave her a barely visible, thankful smile.

Anna just nodded, and Elsa dropped herself outside and vanished into the dark.

The princess sighed dreamily and flopped up against Kristoff's side, "Ah, I'm so happy for her…"

Kristoff frowned, "I don't get it. I mean it looks like she hates his guts."

Anna looked up at him with confusion, "You really don't understand anything about women, do you?"

Kristoff gave her a definitive shake of the head, "Not a thing."

Anna could only just smile and wrap her arms about him, "Good answer…" She then dragged him by the arm and started walking down the corridor.

"W-where are we going?"

"To go and watch, of course," she whispered.

"Of course…" sighed Kristoff, who resigned to just let himself to be dragged along.

-α-

A great gust of wind blew through the courtyard, carrying the palace doors open in the process. Jack erupted into the open, skidding to a stop using the base of his staff.

Jack executed a perfect on-the-spot somersault in celebration and held his arms aloft, "Whoo!" he cheered. He then spun about to look back the way he'd came, and he suddenly felt his smile fade. His hands fell back to his sides and he turned away from the doors, swinging his heels as he walked idly toward the mounds of snow someone seemed to have piled in the courtyard before flopping back into them like a waiting blanket.

The lone guardian let his staff roll from his hand as he stared up at the stars above. He cocked his head almost dejectedly, "Suppose it wouldn't have been so bad if she'd chased me just a little further…"

Jack closed his eyes and stood slowly back up, reaching for his staff as he went. He noted how the snow almost seemed to reach up and cling to him as he went, as if drawn by his presence alone.

It took Jack a second too long to realise however that the snow _was_ in fact clinging to him, and he didn't have time to process a single thought before the mound of white he'd been laying in erupted into a great white hand that snapped shut around the guardian before he could move so much as an inch.

Jack reached for his staff, but it was caught in the changing snow just inches from his fingertips, "Oh you have _got_ to be kidding me…" he groaned as he found himself rising up off the ground, watching as the mounds of snow that had appeared so innocent before started gathering into one main mass that quickly grew and shaped itself.

In the space of a few seconds, Jack Frost suddenly found himself in the grip of a gigantic snow copy of Elsa herself. Jack inclined his head acceptingly as he dangled there, regarding the perfect copy of the upscaled Queen, "Okay, I will admit: that _is_ pretty cool."

Jack sighted his staff. The base was embedded in the giant's wrist. He reached over, stretching as far as he could, but he went limp when he realised he couldn't quite reach it.

The guardian sighed, "And so it's the attack of the fifty foot Ice Queen, is it? Let's see you get out of this one, Jack."

"That's _Snow _Queen," and Jack squirmed around just in time to see Elsa emerge from the top of her clone's head, "So your name _is_ Jack..."

Jack could only stare in amazement at Elsa for a long moment. In the time since they'd last encountered each other she'd somehow not only fixed her hair, but her nightgown had been transformed into a shimmering blue/white dress that trailed elegantly along behind her.

The Queen began descending her copy's braid like it was a simple staircase before walking slowly down the length of the arm, stopping when she reached the hand.

Jack looked up at Elsa and then gave her construct a long, surveying sweep, "Amazing…" he breathed, "You really are amazing, did I mention that to you before? I mean this thing must've taken some serious skill."

"Well…" said Elsa, looking away once more, "I _have_ been practicing. Are you saying you can't do anything like this?"

He shrugged, "I've never really tried _making _things with my powers."

"Why not?"

Jack smiled, but it didn't quite reach his eyes, "There was nobody around to see it…"

"You mean you're alone?"

Again a shrug, "I've always been alone, ever since I became what I am. I've had allies and friends I guess, but it's normally always…just been me."

"And who _are_ you exactly?"

Again that smile, "I'm Jack Frost, as in _the _Jack Frost."

There was a slight furrowing of Elsa's brow, "I've never heard of you I'm afraid."

Jack chuckled, shaking his head, "Don't be silly. That's impossible."

Elsa cocked a single regal eyebrow up, "Oh, and why is that?"

"W-well you can _see _me," he glanced around at the hand, "You can _touch_ me."

"Well of course I can. You're right in front of me."

Jack shook his head, "You don't understand. I'm a spirit; a _guardian_. You can't see one of us unless you believe in us."

"I believe in you _because_ I can see you."

Jack rolled his eyes, "Trust me, if things worked that way round then my life would've been a lot peachier these past three hundred years."

Elsa was unable to hide the look of surprise on her face, "You're three hundred years old?" she breathed.

Jack shrugged, "Give or take. I stopped keeping track at around two hundred and fifty." A look of confusion then crossed his features, "But this doesn't make sense. How can you all see and touch me if you don't believe in me?"

Elsa had no answer for that, "Assuming you are what you say you are. What are you the spirit of exactly?"

"Isn't it obvious? I'm the spirit of winter; the embodiment of the ice and cold. I'm also the Guardian of Fun. That's sort of a new title though."

"That's not possible…"

"Yeah, a lot of that going around tonight," said Jack.

She then looked at him quizzically, "And the 'Guardian of _fun_?'"

This time Jack's smile was almost dazzling, "That's me, all the way. I mean didn't we have _fun_ tonight?"

Elsa gaped at him, "_Fun?_" she echoed incredulously, "You call that fun?"

Jack just laughed that unrestrained laugh of his, "Of course! Come on, you look me in the eye and tell me you didn't have just a little bit of fun."

Elsa tried to look away.

"Come on…" prompted Jack, smiling still and watching the edge of Elsa's mouth twitch despite her best efforts, as if his very nature was infectious and appealed to that little voice in her that still yearned to rush out in the night and build snowmen with her sister.

"There it is…" intoned Jack, "Come on, you and me back there; _that_ was fun."

Elsa turned away to hide the blush on her cheeks, "It was improper."

"Hey, wouldn't be fun if it wasn't."

"You're immature and incorrigible."

"Are you any different, deep down? Though in my defence, I have been told that I've got very good dental hygiene."

Elsa turned sharply back however when she heard a distinctive cracking noise coming from her side. And she'd turned just in time to see her construct's fist solidify from snow into a solid block of ice which quickly shattered around Jack's form. Now there was nothing holding him up beyond the open air.

Jack was already moving though. He wrapped his legs around the remnants of the wrist and swung upside down. That allowed him just enough wriggle room to slide one leg down and kick his staff free. With his grip lost however, both it and he dropped like a rock.

"Jack!" shouted Elsa, the giant's arm restoring as the other moved to catch him, only to swipe out at thin air.

The arm she was on moved to the side and Elsa peered down, searching for the fallen guardian, "Jack?"

"You called?" said a voice from just behind Elsa, eliciting a shocked intake of air as she swung about.

It was of course Jack. He had his foot resting against the inside of his staff as he lounged against it.

Twenty metres off the ground.

The look of shock on Elsa's face was almost pleasing to Jack. She had an almost childlike wonder in her eyes as the guardian hung silently in the air, swaying slightly upon the breeze, "You can…_fly?_"

He floated off into a slow circle around the Snow Queen, "Didn't I mention that part?" he asked, leaning casually back again in that impossible way of his, "Wait, you mean you can't?"

Elsa shook her head.

A moment of silence passed, and there was a look in Jack's eyes. It was the look of him considering something that he never had before, but it was gone as swiftly as it appeared, and he found himself looking away and floating just a bit further back from Elsa, as if he suddenly felt the need to protect himself from her in some way.

Elsa blinked, "Is something wrong?"

Jack still wasn't looking at her and he affixed his usual smile in place, "You've got me on style, I'll give you that, your majesty…"

"It's Elsa…" she added gently.

A quick flash of something bordering on either irony or pain crossed over Jack's features, "Y-yeah…so with the flying thing in mind, I guess we can call it a draw."

He then paused, as if considering something again. Then, with a flutter of his fingers, a single glowing snowflake shimmered into being in his palm. He toyed with it around his fingers like it were a coin before flicking it out towards Elsa.

It fluttered gently on the breeze towards her and she reached out to catch it. Upon contact with her fingertips it emitted a flash before transforming into a simple blue rose formed entirely out of ice. A winter's storm was visible within the petals and stem.

"That's to say sorry if I bothered you," said Jack, drawing her attention up to him again, "In my experience, winter tends to do that to people after a while." And a huge gust of wind forced Elsa to look away for a second, and when she looked back…Jack Frost was gone. Elsa noticed a rapidly growing trail of clouds above, leading off towards the mountains, each creating a snowstorm in their wake.

Elsa regarded the rose once more, allowing a single finger to trace the thornless stem for a moment before lacing it up into her hair and returning her gaze back to the sky. The makings of a smile appeared on her features, "The winter never bothers me, Jack Frost…"

This wasn't over, not as far as Elsa was concerned. And as Jack Frost soared upon the northern winds high above, a tiny voice in the back his mind began whispering the exact same thing...

-α-

_To be continued…_

[A/N] Funny how when I just start a story the opening chapter ends up just few thousand words long, but once I know the plot and what I want to do in each one they end over ten. Still, I found oddly that this barely took long to write at all, even though this really is just a mischievous little fun piece that I'll continue to squeeze in as I work on other things, but I really didn't want to leave this without anything having really happened yet so hope it gives a modicum of enjoyment to you folks out there too. Until whenever next time is…

Catch you in Chapter 3: Creeping Darkness


	3. Chapter 3: Creeping Darkness

[A/N] So here we are again. Guess this is officially on the move now. Thought I'd at least do this between chapters of my other stories to help keep things fresh. Glad you seem to be enjoying it mostly so I'll do my best not to disappoint this time round either, trying to basically rotate between stories as i said, so while there may be gaps between chapters, I can at least promise that it's not due to any lack of writing. Let's carry on, shall we?

**Chapter 3: Creeping Darkness**

"So what do you think?" asked Anna. She was stood by one of the large windows in the palace ballroom with Kristoff by her side. Both were looking out at the mountains in the distance. A large, grey/black cloud swirled angrily atop it.

Kristoff shrugged, "All the other clouds cleared up yesterday. That one started to as well, but it came back with a vengeance earlier on. So, yeah, I suppose it _could_ be him.

"I also just got word from some of the other harvesters that the paths up to the lake in the mountains are completely impassable due to the blizzard, and these are seasoned guys we're talking about here. They wouldn't make that claim gently. If Jack Frost is up there, then he's either brooding or just really doesn't want to be disturbed."

"He didn't seem like the brooding type to me," said Anna, who dropped her voice to a whisper when Elsa entered through the doors on the opposite end of the room, "What should we say to her?"

Elsa nodded with a polite smile as she passed. The rose she still had in her hair hadn't melted in the slightest, not that that really surprised Anna very much. She'd noted that her sister had been oddly silent these past few days, ever since they'd last seen the Guardian.

"Well I don't know." Murmured Kristoff under his breath, "I'm the one who doesn't know anything about women, remember?"

"Well I've never really had a chance to talk with her about this stuff before either, you know."

"Well should you really even be playing matchmaker then?" asked Kristoff, but immediately dismissed the topic when Anna scowled at him. He let out a relenting sigh, "Fine…leave it to me. I have an idea."

Kristoff then turned and approached the slightly raised central chair where Elsa sat. The Queen almost seemed tired from her contemplations. The ice master flourished a bow, "Your majesty…"

Elsa blinked, coming back to attention. She then looked to Kristoff and let out a brief, sweet chuckle, "Kristoff…its _Elsa_. You know that you never have to stand on ceremony with me."

"Perhaps, but I've come to you with a matter of the most grievous importance."

Elsa's brow furrowed slightly and she sat just that little bit more upright, "Is there a problem?"

"It's the other ice harvesters, ma'am…"

"_Elsa," _she corrected firmly.

"Y-yes, b-but it's the blizzard, you see. They can't get even close to passing it. They've asked that I beseech you for your help. You would, after all, be the only one who could pass through it unharmed."

Elsa nodded ponderingly.

"So you see," said Kristoff, "You should really go up and talk to him as soon as-"

"-him?" cut in Elsa, one slim eyebrow raising just slightly higher than the other.

"Th-that is…you should go and…_see_ if you can resolve whatever it is that's causing that unnatural storm up there." Stammered Kristoff, fingers pointing lamely up towards the mountain in the distance.

Elsa's suspicions hadn't dropped one bit. In his own way, Kristoff was even less subtle than Anna, "Very well…" she exhaled.

"Great!" chimed Anna from further down the room as she clapped her hands together, "We'll give you a ride up."

It was blatantly clear to Elsa what her sister was up to, but the fact remained that something really did have to be done about the unrelenting snowstorm.

"Do you know where it's centred?" asked Elsa as she stood back up.

"At the precipice," said Kristoff, nodding up and out of the window, "If it is Jack, then I think I know exactly where it is he went."

Elsa regarded the thick banks of swirling cloud. She knew what was up there. It made sense Jack might choose to stop in that location if it was indeed him.

"What's wrong?" asked Anna when she realised Elsa hadn't stepped forward and indeed, she had a strange look in her eyes as she stared off into the distance.

"I don't know what I'll say…" she murmured, "For some reason, he all but ran away from me the last time we met." Her face then seemed to fall just a little, "He almost looked afraid of me by the end."

Anna watched in silence as Elsa's hand seemed to drift unconsciously to the rose in her hair, "Did I do something wrong?"

"It wasn't you that he was afraid of," said Kristoff, both to Elsa and Anna's surprise. There was a strange note of certainty in his voice, "And you didn't do anything wrong."

Both Elsa and Anna were looking to him now, "How can you be so sure?" asked the Queen.

"It's a man thing…" he said, and then turned to leave, "Come on, I'd rather get you there before noon, if possible. You don't want to miss the reception this evening."

Elsa and Anna both looked like they wanted to say something, but instead just followed on without further query.

Anna picked up the pace, "nicely handled," she whispered in his ear.

Kristoff inclined his head, "Well, it's like you said: I might not know much about women in general, " He then paused to glance briefly at Elsa and back, "But I do know a thing or two about the two most important ladies in my life."

"Aww…" sighed Anna, nestling her head briefly against his neck as they went.

-α-

_A little while earlier…_

'Nothing…' lamented the Guardian.

Jack hovered above the mountaintop, staff gripped tightly in one hand as he stared off into the distance, "How can they _all_ be gone?"

He'd done a full circle of the globe by that point, stopping by the North Pole, the Bunny's warren and even the Tooth Fairy's palace in the east.

Or at the very least Jack had gone to the places where those things _should_ have been, but there had been nothing. All the major cities seemed to be MIA too. In fact, the entire _planet_ appeared to have been reduced to a preindustrial state. If anything, the world now seemed to be at a level of development more in fitting with when Jack himself was still human.

And on top of that, Jack Frost still hadn't figured out why absolutely everyone seemed able to both see and touch him without first believing.

Jack gritted his teeth with frustration and growled slightly, "What is _happening_?" he demanded, his voice echoing out over the mountains around him. The guardian let his emotions vent slightly, inadvertently causing a violent blizzard to erupt into being about him.

Jack looked up towards a swiftly closing gap in the clouds. It was far too early for the moon to be out, but a small part of him suspected that even if it were shining, Jack wouldn't sense the presence of the Man in the Moon up there any more than he'd found signs of the other guardians elsewhere.

Jack closed his eyes and sank slowly back down towards the ground. He drifted in a spiral about the mountain. He prepared to glumly touch down when he came about an outcropping of rock, revealing an open space with a steep bank leading back down the mountain.

Jack's concerns and worries briefly vanished, engulfed by an almost childlike wonder.

The blizzard cleared around the guardian just enough to leave a perfectly circular gap of calm that covered the mountaintop.

An ice palace that seemed to grow out of the very mountainside stood before Jack.

The building's gleaming shape was a mass of such perfectly formed geometric art and intricacy that the guardian had to briefly fight the urge to stagger.

Jack remembered what the self-proclaimed 'ice master' had said about there being another palace up in the mountains. It was one that, he had at least _said_, was currently unoccupied.

Jack smiled.

"_Hello,_ icy fortress of awesomeness…" He then found himself walking slowly across the snow without leaving so much as a single footprint until he finally reached the icy bridge that lead across to the main doors.

Jack stopped and looked at the structure critically. He brought his staff up and experimentally tapped the base against one railing. The vibrations elicited an almost musical hum from the crystalline structure as they traveled along it.

The guardian felt his smile widen as he extended one foot ahead and then set it slowly down, closing his eyes as contact was made. He could feel the residual hum of magic that seemed to swim through the entire structure. It was obvious that such an artifice could never have been constructed under normal means using mere blocks of carved ice.

"So this is your work too, is it?" said Jack quietly as he slowly crossed over to the doors, his eyes never stopping their continuing survey of the structure, "You truly are amazing, Elsa."

Jack flicked the doors open and strode inside. He nodded with satisfaction as he looked about, "Now this just screams me. Prime location, no bothersome neighbors, cheap rates. Well_..._I suppose if nobody _else_ is using it."

The guardian surveyed the main foyer, circling about the frozen fountain in the centre. He then tapped a finger off his jaw in thought, "It's missing something though."

He blinked as an idea came to him. He then flicked out a snowflake that fluttered out and drifted down to the floor upon a spot near the rear of the chamber. He then brought the head of his staff around and aimed it down at it, "Now then…"

There came a swirling of white from about Jack's feet that gathered swiftly outwards and around the flake, which in turn expanded and branched swiftly out before reforming into a large, ornate icy throne with layers of crystal spikes lining the top. The arms and backrest were decorated with snowflakes and ice crystals, whilst snowstorms seemed to go on endlessly within.

Jack smirked, "Perfect…" he said, pausing briefly to dust his hands down, "I can't believe anybody would just let such a prime bit of real estate like this stay empty."

Jack's brow furrowed however when he noticed a large shadow suddenly spread out over both him and his new addition.

A growling so deep that it seemed to shake the entire room began emanating from right behind the guardian.

Jack arched himself about to discover a huge, snowy colossus towering over him from mere feet away. It glared down at him with large, glowing eyes.

"Hey there, big guy," said Jack, seeming bizarrely unthreatened. He then frowned however, "Boy, how did I miss _you_ on the way in?"

The massive snowman growled and orientated about as Jack circled around it, keeping the fountain between them, "You must be more of Elsa's handiwork, am I right?" asked Jack.

Marshmallow growled slightly louder. He really hadn't been expecting conversation, more a horrified scream followed by a hasty retreat. That was normally how it went when people strayed inside his palace.

Jack stopped and folded his arms. He then gave the snowman a critical up and down glance, "Wow, she really wasn't trying very hard with you, was she?"

Marshmallow let out a shocked grunt that bordered on a squeak.

"No offence, big guy."

Marshmallow's eyes blazed red. He then reared back to let out as loud a roar as massive a snow construct was capable of before swinging a huge blow down at the guardian.

Jack braced his staff down to execute a nimble forward flip right over the attack. He then skidded sideways upon landing, right behind the snowman's guard, who in turn pulled back once more in preparation to strike again, "Somebody needs to chill out…" said Jack, and he tapped the tip of his staff against Marshmallow's chest.

A film of frost spread over Marshmallow's form, flash freezing him into an immovable statue, fist still extended, all within the space of a second.

Jack flipped his staff behind his back again, "Much better."

Marshmallow would have voiced his sincerest objection to that sentiment had he been able.

Jack took a single step forwards, stopping however when he felt his foot make contact with something. The guardian frowned and bent down to pick up what appeared to be some kind of tiara or crown that had fallen off the snowman's head during the attack.

The guardian hummed and rolled it between his palms. Despite the article having a certain femininity about it, Jack merely shrugged and proceeded to prop it up atop his head.

Jack leaned about Marshmallow and held his arms out, "What do you think, big guy?"

The snowman could only let his eyes glow slightly brighter in response.

Jack sighed, "You're just jealous that I wear it better." He then proceeded to stroll back towards his throne before swinging about on the ball of one heel and dropping contentedly down into it, palms flat on the rests, staff propped up against the side.

Jack looked around, "By the power vested in me, _by _me, I claim this small ice palace in the name of Jack Frost. All those opposed?"

Marshmallow growled.

"Really, nobody? Okay then, all in favour?" Jack held up one hand and looked about. He then cocked his head, "Motion is passed."

And so, with himself crowned King of one random building that he'd stumbled over completely by accident, Jack Frost fell into silence. And in what had to be a personal record, he actually managed to sit still for a whole five seconds before the urge to jump up and go exploring got the better of him.

Mallow just grumbled dejectedly as his usurper dashed happily off to explore the rest of the structure.

-α-

Kristoff pulled back on the reins and Sven came to a stop. The ice master held his hand up to brace against the howling wind that even at this distance was threatening to force them back the way they'd come. He used his other hand to keep his hood held down over his forehead and block out the torrent of snow. He then shifted about to look into the back where Elsa sat. Anna was sat in the front with her head buried against Kristoff's side. Elsa however was perfectly composed. She was wearing a thick green travelling gown, but otherwise seemed completely unhindered by the wind, "This is as far as we can go!" called Kristoff over the din.

Elsa nodded, "This will do fine," she said, her voice somehow carrying over the wind without her actually raising it.

"Will you be alright?" called back Anna.

Elsa smiled reassuringly, "Don't worry. This is nothing…"

It certainly didn't look like 'nothing' to Kristoff. It was only now that he could see just what his men had been getting at: While the blizzard that currently surrounded them was indeed unpleasant, just up ahead the snowfall suddenly intensified up to the point that it looked as though there was a huge cyclone of snow blocking off the top of the mountain like a colossal swirling wall.

Elsa strode nonplussed into the wind and then vanished into the storm a moment later.

"I hope she'll be alright," murmured Kristoff as he brought them back to a safe distance just a few hundred yards down the mountain.

He pulled his hood down and then sat back again, one arm draped casually about Anna, "Couldn't she have brought us with her? I mean it wouldn't have taken much for her just to create a tunnel all the way up to the top."

Anna shuffled slightly closer, "I think she wants to be alone for this. She just doesn't know it yet."

-α-

Elsa barely even noticed the wind and snow, she was too lost in thought. Heck, she barely even noticed when her outfit subconsciously shifted and changed forms, the forest greens giving way to intricate laces of shimmering blues and whites.

The snowflakes dancing almost blindingly about did come close to the queen, but it was almost as if they chose to reconsider trying to attach themselves to her at the last second and abruptly changed direction along with the wind currents carrying them. To an outside observer, it would almost have looked as though there was a perfect sphere of calm within the impossibly thick blizzard, one that moved along with Elsa as she walked.

'What am I even doing?' she thought to herself with mild exasperation. Elsa knew that she could probably just counteract the blizzard if she really tried. She also took into account that Jack appeared to be the sort to not want to sit still in any one place for too long. He would probably leave on his own soon enough.

She suddenly found herself moving just a little faster.

How long would it be before he got bored and moved on once more?

The sheer intensity of the storm was a sign that Elsa felt oddly reassured by. Such a thing could not be sustained in its current form without some kind of constant magical intervention.

Elsa emerged from the flurry a few seconds later. The world was plunged into such sudden silence that Elsa only now noticed that her ears were ringing due to the sheer volume of the wind's wailing.

Elsa brought a hand to her chest and exhaled a long, calming breath. She found herself mentally rehearsing the pretence she was going to use even as she started walking slowly up towards the ice palace. It actually took her an instant to remember that she was actually _supposed_ to be there on business, and that it wasn't really a pretence.

At least…that's what Elsa kept telling herself.

Her heart skipped a beat when she suddenly noticed the trail of frost coating top of the snow, which in turn led across the bridge and right up to the main doors.

'So he is here…'

Elsa brought her hand back to her chest to take another breath. She'd never felt both nervous, terrified and oddly excited all at the same time before.

Closing her eyes and drawing her composure back to the surface, Elsa focused on taking just one step closer. The rest followed quickly by themselves and she soon found herself standing by the main doors.

-α-

Jack entered the main chamber once more. Despite a slight mess on the upper level, where it appeared there'd been some commotion at one time or another, the palace was indeed a very impressive thing to behold even from within.

The guardian put one foot down on the top step, only to tense when the most subtle of breezes carried in across the room.

Jack hopped quickly over the bannister rail and back down to ground level to grab his staff. He then moved swiftly off to one side and got out of sight. His breath caught in his throat however when he peeked out and sighted the lone figure slip in through the main doors.

Elsa drifted soundlessly into the throne room, her eyes shifting uneasily left and right. She then arched about to look up at the still snowman, who let out an almost mewling cry upon sighting the Queen, "Oh, _Marshmallow…_" said Elsa, walking quickly up to him, "What happened to you?"

"That thing has a _name_?"

Elsa let out a startled gasp and swung about to find Jack Frost standing just a few metres away from her. He seemed to be trying to appear as nonchalant as possible, arms folded with his staff hooked about his neck. She exhaled a long breath to calm herself for the umpteenth time in as many moments, though for some reason her heart didn't slow quite as much as she'd have liked it to this time round.

There followed a long, uncomfortable moment of silence.

"Hello, Jack…" said Elsa finally.

"Your Majesty…" responded Jack with a curt inclination of his head and matching smile.

Elsa considered reminding him that she didn't mind his using her first name. Instead, she just coughed once into her hand to clear her throat and try to compose herself, "Ahem, if you'd please release him," she requested, beckoning a hand off to one side at Marshmallow.

Jack paced slowly forward and stopped in front of the snowman. He folded his arms and frowned slightly, "Hmm, I don't know…you promise to be good, big guy?"

A growl so deep that it shook the whole building was the response, and the blazing of Marshmallow's eyes was so bright that Jack was surprised his snow didn't melt.

"Marshmallow…" chided Elsa gently.

Again, a reluctant, throaty mewl came out, but the snowman seemed to accept and gave an acquiescing grumble.

"_Jack…_" prompted the Queen.

The guardian cocked his head in acceptance and tapped the head of his staff off the snowman's leg. A film of white then seemed to fold back over Marshmallow's body, freeing him up an instant later.

The snowman shook himself out and, to show his gratitude, promptly proceeded to roar at the very top of his voice right into Jack's face, but otherwise he followed orders to not attack.

Jack took a second to flatten his blown back hair down as Marshmallow slinked grumpily out of the chamber.

"Somebody has anger issues…" murmured Jack as he approached the throne at the back of the room and sank down into it.

Elsa looked curiously on as she circled about the fountain, "Well that's new…"

Jack shrugged, "I thought the place needed a little something extra."

Elsa frowned then, and she cocked her head to get a better look at Jack, "Wait, is…is that my tiara?"

Jack looked up, "No…"

"I'm pretty sure it is."

"Yeah? Well I'm defying gender conventions. Besides, I think it looks good on me."

Elsa smiled, "I suppose it does."

Jack looked about, "_Still…_nice place you've got here. I take it this is one of yours."

Elsa nodded sheepishly.

"It's beautiful…"Jack then paused, as if considering whether or not to add on the compliment that was hanging off the tip of his tongue:

'It's the second most beautiful thing I've seen all day…'

But he considered himself far too cool for a comment as sickeningly lame as that. Instead, he went with, "Could use a few things though. Again, an A for imagination. You get a D for practically though unfortunately."

Elsa's brow twitched into a frown, and it took great restraint on her part not to actually pout, "Meaning what?"

Jack cocked his head, "Well, I mean the place is stunning and all, but isn't it missing a few…amenities?"

"Such as?"

"Kitchen."

"W-well…"

"Bathroom."

"Well, I didn't really-"

"_Bedroom._"

"_Alright,_ I admit it: I wasn't really thinking too clearly at the time. It was more of a spur of the moment thing."

Jack cocked an eyebrow up, "You built an entire palace in the spur of the moment?"

Elsa inclined her head, "It was one of those days…"

Jack nodded thoughtfully and looked about once more, "Lots of walking around room though. And did you _try_ the banister? It's perfect for sliding down."

"N-no…" stammered Elsa, looking away suddenly to conceal a blush.

Nobody could ever know…

"Also, did you know there's a big mess upstairs? Big mounds of jagged ice and stuff everywhere. Plus, I think somebody broke your chandelier. Wasn't me."

"I know it wasn't you." Said Elsa, and Jack watched as she extended one foot and pressed it down in the center of the room. Jack looked up and watched as the ice crystal protruding up there grew quickly out and into a branched into an new ornamental chandelier. She nodded satisfactorily, "It should've looked like that..."

"Beautiful…" murmured Jack, but he wasn't looking up at that precise instant.

Elsa blinked, "Hm?"

Jack flinched, "Th-that is," he said hastily, pointing upwards, "Very impressive."

Elsa smiled sweetly and Jack found himself shying back for some reason, "I'm glad you approve."

She then began heading towards the stairs and stepping slowly up. She paused after the first few however to look back down at Jack, "Will you not accompany me?"

Jack looked back at her, "Would it be rude not to?"

Elsa seemed to consider it for a second, "Yes."

Jack cocked his head, "Best tag along then." And he flipped himself back to his feet to quickly go and catch up.

"I suppose a few additions wouldn't go amiss," said Elsa as Jack fell into step alongside her.

They eventually made their way to the balcony overlooking the valley that the palace had its supports growing out of. A huge grey cyclone swirled silently around the local vicinity, blocking the rest of the landscape from view like a curtain.

"First however," said Elsa, who was looking out at the storm, "I think something needs to be done about that." She then looked back to Jack, "It's actually blocking some of the passes. We're, ah, getting complaints."

Jack shrugged, "It's your mountain…" He then raised his staff up just slightly and then stomped the base back down against the icy floor. The contact let out a slam that seemed disproportionately loud to the amount of force Jack had used.

In response, the storm swirling about them suddenly dissipated and fluttered off into nothingness, leaving the residual snow to settle silently upon the ground, "There we go..."

Elsa seemed startled, and neither spoke for a long moment, "Your control is amazing."

Jack smiled weakly, murmuring, "Not as amazing as I'd like…" as he looked off into the distance.

Elsa observed him in silence for a moment, "So…" she began, searching for something to say, "Were you…born this way?" she asked, her voice unsure, "Or...were you…that is…was it a curse?"

Jack's gaze flicked to her with a frown.

Elsa almost flinched back, drawing her hand back to her chest as she looked away, "You don't have to answer that…"

Jack let out a relenting sigh and smiled again. He leaned forwards over the balcony, propping his chin up in his hands, "No, it's alright…" he was quiet again for a moment however before speaking again, "Blessing or curse?" he mused, lifting one pale hand up to scrutinize the palm, "I wonder…"

"What happened?" asked Elsa, "Were you always this way?"

He shook his head, "No, I was…chosen." He said, "Make of that what you will. I sacrificed myself to save someone dear to me. That _apparently_ made me worthy."

"You sacrificed yourself?"

Jack nodded, "My sister. I managed to knock her clear of the ice and fell through in her place. Then I was cold...cold for the longest time, until I was reborn as what I am now. I came back totally new, no memories, no past…"

Elsa could understand that. If Anna were in that same danger then she wouldn't have spared a second's thought before giving herself up for the only family she had. Although in all fairness, the cold water probably wouldn't have done much more than mildly irritate her. However there was one part Jack's sacrifice she truly found shocking, "You…forgot your family?"

Jack nodded, "I'm not sad about that, actually. Nobody could see, hear or even touch me besides the other guardians back then. I think…I think it would have been a lot more painful if I did remember them back then."

"There are others like you?" and by the undertone in her voice, Jack could tell that concept excited her a little.

Jack smirked somewhat, "There's only one like me, but there are other guardians of other things. At least there were…"

"Were?"

Jack shifted his head just enough to nod again, "I don't know how I got to this place. I came through a portal just expecting to go somewhere else on the planet. Instead, I've found myself in some strange _other_ place. Everyone can see me here, all the cities I remember are gone…and so are the other guardians. I'm not even sure this is my world."

"You came from another world?" breathed Elsa, "What's it like? Is it that much different from here?"

Jack chuckled, "It's like yours just…louder, and quite a bit taller too."

"It sounds lovely."

His smile twitched weakly again, "It has its ups and downs, I guess..."

Jack's smile completely faded after that, "But that's all gone now…_they're…_all gone: all the others…" and his brow furrowed, as if suddenly realizing, "I might never see those guys again…"

Elsa wasn't sure what to say. For her, her biggest nightmare was being alone again in the dark. She wasn't sure what she'd do if she lost everything again after all she'd overcome. She knew however that she wouldn't be able to put on as brave a face as Jack was.

"Alone again…" mused Jack with a note of forced irony.

Elsa found herself edging closer until she was near enough to bring her hand slowly up to touch his.

The instant she touched him with the intent of entwining her fingers about his for comfort, Jack hissed, recoiling back away from her, "Stop!"

Elsa staggered, her hand still outstretched. Her eyes were wide, startled and perhaps just a little bit hurt, "I…I'm sorry. I just…" she began to turn away.

"It's not you." Said Jack, who was now looking down at his palm before clenching it closed, "You don't understand. I can't _touch_ things for long without hurting them. I can't always control it."

Elsa resolved herself and stepped closer again.

Jack continued speaking, his eyes still averted, "There was this…_person_ I was close to, let's just call her a co-worker. I was closer to her than the other guardians. Was a big mistake when she actually tried kissing me once. Ended up stuck to me for half an hour like a lamp-"the guardian was cut off mid-sentence however when Elsa took the opportunity to close the distance between them and capture his still raised hand in her own.

Jack tried to yank the limb back only for Elsa to cup his hand with her other also, holding him gently but firmly as she closed her eyes, "Let _go_, Elsa." He said, a note of fear in his voice.

Elsa just shook her head.

His voice dropped to a whisper, "That has to be cold…" Her touch was soft beyond compare and almost searing hot in comparison to Jack's own body temperature. Her warmth never dissipated however even as the frost began coating the floor about their feet.

"I'm very good with the cold, Jack Frost." She murmured, "And please don't call yourself alone when you're not. Some might consider it rude."

Jack almost seemed to flush and looked away. Elsa took that opening to smile cheekily and briefly lean over to peck him chastely on one cheek before pulling swiftly away again.

Jack froze (metaphorically speaking) and someone off to one side gasped. There remained a ghost of the brief touch on his skin. His hand went up to touch the buzzing spot on his cheek. Elsa was stood off to one side, looking as innocent as ever.

It took Elsa a second to realize however that it wasn't Jack who had gasped, and she arched her head about slightly.

Anna was standing in the doorway, her mouth was open still, and Elsa correctly suspected at which precise moment her sister had walked in on them.

"_Anna…_" warned Elsa.

Anna said nothing beyond making a quickly rising squee-ing noise in her throat. She then swung swiftly about about to scramble off without slipping, "Kristoff, Kristoff...!"

"Come back here!" commanded Elsa, who quickly moved to chase after her sister "That wasn't what it looked…oh…" she cut herself off then and skidded to a stop to look back at Jack. He was still looking off to the side in silence, one hand still touching his cheek, "I…I'd better go explain what just happened to her before she starts jumping to conclusions."

"And what did just happen?" muttered Jack distantly.

Elsa opened her mouth to respond, but then quickly looked away herself with a rapidly forming blush, "There's…there's a function later on tonight, down at the palace. It's just a social gathering for some friends and dignitaries, but I'd be happy if…that is…it would please me if you would consider attending."

Jack just nodded in silence.

Elsa took a calming breath and then forced herself to leave. She then peeked her head back out a second later, "Seven sharp…or…just sunset, if you don't have a clock."

"I'll…give it some thought," said Jack, his voice still almost vacant.

Elsa just nodded and was gone before she made herself feel any more foolish than she already did.

"What…just happened?" murmured Jack once the building had fallen back into silence.

Things really had taken a turn for the bizarre.

-α-

A little while later…

Jack kicked the palace door closed behind him with a sigh. All the dwelling on the Elsa issue was getting him nowhere.

He spared the lowering sun a glance as he crossed the bridge and onto the snowy outcropping.

Jack shook his head, chastising himself for even contemplating taking up the offer. It wasn't that he disliked Elsa, quite the opposite was true in fact, but she confused him, or at the very least she stirred up feelings that the guardian tended to try avoiding in his day to day existence. And he still hadn't gotten a clue towards where he might actually be, or what may have happened to the other guardians. Nor had he found out why everyone could see him.

He ruffled his hair with frustration, growling slightly. "Why can't someone just tell me what's going on!" he shouted.

The guardian exhaled a long breath and let his hands flop back to his sides while his call echoed back at him over the mountaintop.

He suddenly felt immensely silly.

Jack's shoulders sagged and he swung about towards the palace again before beginning the slow walk back. He wondered if just avoiding Elsa was really the best way to escape those feelings.

Jack felt a brief tingle in his cheek where that contact had been made earlier. He came to a halt and then brought up the hand she had dared take in her own.

"Still feels warm…" he murmured, and then finally posed himself the question:

Did he _want_ to avoid those feelings?

Jack shook his head dismally and stepped back onto the bridge.

"Hello, Jack…" came an amused, calm voice from behind the guardian.

Jack blinked and glanced back over one shoulder for an instant, "Huh? Oh...hey, Pitch," he said offhandedly, and then just kept on walking.

It actually took a whole three seconds for Jack's distracted mind to correctly process what had just happened.

He stopped dead.

Abruptly, the wind currents ceased, and all over the mountaintop descended a gaunt quiet.

A wicked smirk spread over Pitch's face, his gaze narrowing at the guardian in anticipation.

The dead silence was broken by the subtle creaking of wood as Jack's hand tightened about his staff.

Without a word of warning, Jack swung about and slammed the head of his staff into the ground, causing a veritable glacier of jagged icy spikes to erupt out of both the mountain and the very air itself in Pitch's direction.

Pitch seemed to flow like liquid off to one side and then vanish into his shadow, emerging unharmed alongside the forest of summoned ice.

"My oh my, Jack…" said Pitch as he walked back into the open, fingers laced calmly together in front of him, "Such _hostility_."

Jack gritted his teeth, staff at the ready as he circled out into the open space, keeping himself a safe distance from Pitch, "This isn't possible..."

Pitch just chuckled.

"This _can't_ be..."

Again, just a dismissive smirk was his response.

"But I _saw _what happened to you!" snapped Jack, "I was there when your own night mares dragged you down into the dark. You were captured by your own fear!"

"And yet here I am…" replied Pitch, "and I have you to thank for it, Jack. To think that it would be you of all people who set me free."

Jack stopped and scowled, "What are you talking about?"

"Not worked it out? _Well_…you always were a little slow on the uptake. Very well, I'll spell it out for you, shall I? You remember that little trinket of North's?"

"That snow globe…"

Pitch inclined his head, "Correct. Now, what if I were to tell you that, centuries ago, I saw what was coming?"

"What do you mean?"

Pitch scowled this time, "I was a _general_ back in my day, Jack, a hero! And to think that old fool in the moon really believed I couldn't tell that he was plotting against me when he began calling up the other guardians." He hummed for an instant, gathering back his composure, "And so I made…_investments_."

"Investments?"

"I imparted a piece of my very self into that snow globe in the hopes that North would use it without knowing I was there. He would go out spreading his sickening joy and wonder without knowing he was secretly spreading _my_ nightmares in his wake, subverting himself whilst making me stronger."

"But that globe was a prototype," said Jack, shaking his head "North never actually used it in the field."

Pitch frowned, gliding back and forth as he spoke "A fact that I was unaware of at the time, but the deed was done, and so that fragment of myself sat in a drawer untouched, gathering dust for centuries. But it's just as well really. You see, it took that fragment of me that long to realize and master just what that thing was truly capable of; travel not only between mere landmasses, but between _worlds, _Jack. But that was hardly important…not until I was defeated anyway."

"And not until I smashed that globe…" breathed Jack.

Pitch held his arms out grandly, "And you have no idea how eternally grateful I am for that, Jack. Once that fragment was free, the rest of my consciousness was drawn instantly out of the dark to join the rest like a lifeline. It took me a while to regain my physical form, indeed, but evoking fear in these backwater fools wasn't exactly difficult," he smirked then and flourished a bow, "And here I am."

"You took us into another world?" murmured Jack with disbelief.

Pitch's smile widened, "It would hardly be a wise strategy to stay in a place where you're so hopelessly outnumbered. There are no other guardians in this world, Jack. That's why I aimed the portal at it. _Well_…that and perhaps one other reason."

"And what might that be?" asked Jack, who was still waiting for the right moment to attack. He was just glad that Pitch was so very prone to taking time to brag.

"Come now, Jack…" said Pitch, smiling condescendingly, "I know you'll have asked yourself it: that one question that I _know_ is nagging away at both the back and the front of your feeble little mind…" he then beckoned a hand out, prompting the guardian.

"Why can everybody see me?" murmured Jack.

"And not just see, _touch_," said Pitch, "And you want to know how that can possibly happen without them all believing in you first, correct?"

"_Well?_"

"The answer, my dear Jack, is right here…" Pitch then held his hand out, palm up. A swirl of black sand gathered quickly about it and formed into a shape.

Jack regarded the miniature figure in Pitch's palm, "_Elsa?_" exclaimed Jack, "What does she have to do with any of this?"

Pitch smirked again, "Come, Jack, don't think I'm unaware that the little queen is a tad…_different_." He said, and Jack watched as the sandy figure extended a hand to release a black swirl, which in turn caused a little black snowman to appear out of thin air.

Jack cocked his head, "So she has ice powers…" he admitted.

"_Precisely_," said Pitch. He blew down on his hand then, dissipating the illusionary Elsa, "She has magic, Jack!"

Jack frowned, "So what?"

Pitch blinked, "So what? Are you really so dense?" he snapped, "If she has magic, don't you realise what that means?"

Jack's frown deepened, "Well maybe I'm just not quite as _smart_ as you."

Pitch's smirk widened a fraction, "That much is obvious." He deadpanned, "Magic in our world works differently. In order for it to occur, for it to have an _impact_ on the real world, then it needs to be believed in. Magic is only something that occurs if you _believe_ it can occur. If there is no faith, then effectively speaking, neither we nor our abilities exist to the rest of the world. That's where the difference comes in."

Jack's gaze narrowed, "Which is?"

Pitch's expression almost turned serious, "In this world magic exists, Jack, even to the point where the mortals are capable of performing it."

"Again, so what?"

"Don't you see, Jack?" asked Pitch, his tone becoming excitable, "In this world it doesn't matter if you don't believe in magic because it already exists. In this world magic is a _fact_, not a story, and as you and I are magic…" he beckoned again, prompting him to finish.

Jack's eyes widened, "...So are we." he breathed.

Pitch threw his arms gleefully up, "Precisely! We _exist_, Jack! And in this place no lack of belief can do anything to change that. All we can do in this world is become more and more powerful!"

Jack staggered back a step as the true scope of the revelation began to dawn on him.

"Do you see why now, Jack? Why I brought us here in particular?" asked Pitch as he lowered his gaze slightly, "Why be a guardian, when you can be a_ god?_"

Jack steeled himself and began circling once more, "So what happens now?"

Pitch smirked and extended one grey hand, "Now you join with me. Together, Jack, we can be unstoppable!"

Jack cocked his head, "Are we really doing this again? I'm pretty sure we had this conversation once before."

"The circumstances are different, Jack. It's only you and me now." He then smiled almost cordially, "I'm better than nothing, after all."

Jack took a calming breath, "Look, Pitch, I'm not saying I'm happy about everything that's happened to you, but-"

"-Don't you _dare_ pity me, Frost!" cut in Pitch, "Existence stabbed me in the back, Jack, and now it's time for me to pull that knife free and start stabbing back!"

"So that's your plan?" asked Jack dryly with a raised eyebrow as Pitch turned away slightly in thought, "To take over the world?"

Pitch swung back about, "Of course!" he shouted, and then quickly inclined his head, "It's a bit cliched, I know, but what can I say: the old ones are usually the best." He then lowered his hands to his sides, "What'll it be then, Jack? I mean, surely you don't think you can beat me without your other precious guardians backing you up."

Jack smirked, "You know what I think? I think you wouldn't even make the offer if you didn't feel you had to. _I _think all that time trapped has left you a lot _weaker_ than you're letting on. Or do you seriously expect me to think that the amount of fear you sucked up from a few…'backwater fools', was it, would be enough to put you back as you were."

Pitch bared his teeth, black smoke starting to swirl about one hand. Jack knew he'd struck a nerve, "That's only the start, Jack."

Jack shrugged, "Still going to have to say no. Now, you promise to be good, and I'll promise not to leave you trapped in a solid block of ice until I feel you've learned your lesson."

Pitch closed his fist and the smoke transformed into a huge, wicked-looking black scythe, "Last chance, Jack…"

Jack stopped and twirled his staff about once, "And if I say no? What, you'll attack me and we'll fight for an exhaustive amount of time until I inevitably beat you into the ground?"

To Jack's surprise, Pitch just smirked and let his weapon evaporate once more, "You may call me many things, Jack, but I don't think foolish would be among them. No, I've found the perfect little thing to take care of you should it come to that. Now, pledge yourself…to me…and we can end this right now and nobody close to you has to get hurt."

Jack's brow furrowed, "What are you talking about?"

Pitch's smirk widened, "I take it your answer is still no?"

Jack glowered at him, "Of course it is."

Pitch just chuckled quietly and held his hands up in defeat, "As you wish." And with that said, he turned to walk away, "I'll be seeing you again soon, Jack Frost, very soon…"

Jack took a step closer, "Wait, what are you talking about, I don't even _have_ anyone close to me in this place!"

"_Nobody_?" mused Pitch, looking back over one shoulder briefly, "And here I thought I'd found the perfect little playmate for you. I suppose we'll just have to wait and see then…"

Jack wasn't sure why, but only now did the full urge to attack actually swell up inside him, right to the point that every fraction of his being was screaming at him to stop Pitch from getting away, "Not if I stop you first!" he snapped, and made a leaping charge right for his enemy, bringing his staff overhead and into a wide swing.

Pitch's chuckle seemed to echo over the vicinity as Jack swung out, only to make contact with nothing but air as Pitch vanished into his own shadow and was gone as swiftly as he'd arrived.

"Soon, Jack, _soon_!" came the taunting call from seemingly every direction at once.

Jack skidded to a stop and lowered his staff back to his side. He found himself somehow short of breath as he quickly surveyed his surroundings.

The guardian paced for a few moments until he found his eyes drawn inevitably towards the town down below. Concern suddenly welled up inside him for the people he'd inadvertently unleashed the Nightmare King upon.

Jack Frost suddenly realized that taking Elsa up on her offer might not be such a bad idea after all.

He needed to keep a closer eye on things…

-α-

_To be continued…_

[A/N] And thus this installment draws to a close. Always a fun change of pace this story. I'm glad I chose to run with it in the end. I can only just say that rather I'm happy with the plot that I've got laid out and hope I can get it to you soon in turn and hope you're enjoying things so far. So, yeah, I'll get back to this as quickly as I can, until then!

Catch you all next time for Chapter 4: Winter Formal


End file.
